LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


A  Knight  Templar's  Pilgrimage 


TO  THE 


HOLY    LAND. 


BY 


THOMAS    W.    WILSON, 

EUREKA,    CALIF. 


PRINTED    BY 

H.   S.    CROCKER   COMPANY, 
SAN   FRANCISCO,  CALIF. 


, 


DEDICATION. 


To  my  two  daughters,  who  taught  me  many  beautiful 
truths;  whose  words  have  strengthened  and  encouraged 
me  to  live  more  true  to  my  God,  my  fellowmen  and 
myself;  who  saw  good  when  others  looked  for  evil;  who 
never  gave  me  a  heartache. 


Copyright,   1908,  by 

THOMAS  W.  WILSON 


226165 


PREFACE. 


This  book  has  been  written  for  a  purpose,  but  it  has 
not  been  written  at  the  suggestion  of  any  one  or  under 
the  direction  of  any  one. 

It  is  the  outgrowth  of  my  desire  to  bring  before  the 
public  what  the  power  of  prayer  is  and  what  it  means 
to  them  that  persist.  Jesus  said,  "Pray  without  ceasing." 
Reader,  you  will  see  that  all  I  speak  of,  has  been  accom- 
plished by  prayer,  and  prayer  today  rules  nations,  states, 
cities  and  man.  By  prayer  you  can  accomplish  anything 
that  is  right.  Prayer  is  desire. 

I  use  this  form  realizing  that  the  world  today  is  given 
to  reading  fiction,  and  a  book  of  that  character  is  fre- 
quently read  when  a  more  profound  work  is  neglected. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PALESTINE. 


PALESTINE,  or  the  Holy  Land  (take  a  Bible  in  one 
hand  and  pencil  and  note  book  in  the  other),  extends 
from  the  southern  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  in  the  south, 
to  the  northern  slope  of  Mt.  Hermon  in  the  north,  viz.,  from 
latitude  31°  10'  to  33°  20'  north,  which  is  almost  identical 
with  the  biblical  definition  of  the  limits  of  the  land  of 
Israel  as  extending  "From  Dan  to  Beersheba."  From 
the  coast,  Palestine  extends  eastward  to  the  Mountains 
of  Moab  and  Giliad,  beyond  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  River 
Jordan,  viz.,  from  longitude  34°  30'  to  36°  east.  It  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  southernmost  spurs  of  the 
two  mountain  ranges  of  the  Lebanon  and  the  Anti  Libanus 
and  by  Mt.  Hermon ;  on  the  east  by  the  Arabian  Desert ; 
on  the  south  by  Arabia  Poetrea;  and  on  the  west  by  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  Its  length  from  North  to  South  is 
about  140  miles ;  its  average  breadth  about  80  miles ;  and 
its  area  nearly  10.000  square  miles. 

The  name  "Palestine"  occurs  in  the  Bible  in  the 
following  passages:  Exodus  15:14;  Isaiah  14:  29  to  31. 
The  most  ancient  name  of  the  country,  however,  is 
Canaan,  similar  to  that  of  the  fourth  son  of  Ham  and 
grandson  of  Noah.  Palestine  was  divided  into  four 

11 


provinces:  Galilee,  Samaria,  Judea  and  Perea,  which 
last  included  all  the  country  of  Gilead  and  Moab  east 
of  the  Jordan  and  Dead  Sea. 

The  country  is  very  mountainous.  The  valley  of  the 
Jordan  is  much  lower  than  the  Mediterranean,  and  the 
climate  varies  greatly,  some  districts  being  very  cold  and 
others  very  hot.  The  soil  varies  as  much  as  the  tempera- 
ture, some  parts,  such  as  Hebron  and  the  Plain  of  Sharon 
and  Esdraelon,  being  extraordinarily  fertile,  while  in 
other  districts  there  are  rocks,  sand  and  gravel.  Pales- 
tine is  now  and  has  been,  for  many  centuries,  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAET    I. 

Chapter  Page 

I.  ON    THE    WAY 21 

The  author's  desire — The  opening — Knight  Templar's 
excursion — Leaves  home — San  Francisco — visits  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. — Kindness  of  Senator  Flint — receives 
passports — Arctic  weather  in  New  York — The  Mystic 
Tie — Reaches  Madeira — Sunshine  and  flowers — Funchal 
the  capital — Tomb  of  Columbus — Property  rights  of 
women — Arrives  at  Cadiz — Historic  interests — Seville 
and  Bull  fights — Gibraltar  a  fortress  and  a  prison — 
Algiers— Isle  of  Malta — "The  Eose  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean"— Palace  of  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  Order  of 
St.  John — Athens  and  Mars  Hill — Ancient  Troy  and 
Constantinople — Mohammedan  customs  and  the  Temple 
of  Diana. 

II.  CANA    AND    GALILEE 35 

Mt.  Carmel — Elijah's  triumph — Plains  of  Esdraelon — 
City  of  Nazareth — Home  of  Mary  and  Joseph — View 
of  Palestine — Interviews  Nazarene  boy — Picnic  on  shore 
of  Galilee— Sings  "Sweet  Galilee  "—Three  nights  at 
Nazareth — The  Author's  vision — Russian  Pilgrims — 
Cana — Crusader's  battlefield — the  Mount  of  the  Beati- 
tudes— Mount  of  the  Transfiguration — Miracle  of  the 
loaves  and  fishes — Talks  with  "friends" — Bethsaida 
the  Accursed — Capernaum — Tiberias,  King  Herod's 
home — Bethel — Jacob 's  dream. 

III.  JOPPA    TO    JERUSALEM 49 

A   message  from  home — Dangerous  landing  at  Joppa — 


Chapter  Page 

III.  JOPPA    TO   JEEUSALEM— (Continued). 

House  of  Simon  the  Tanner  where  Peter  had  his  vision 
of  Universal  Brotherhood — Tower  top  and  view  of 
Lebanon  forests — Jonah  and  the  whale — Markets  of 
Joppa — Turks  loading  wheat — Churches  and  relics — 
House  of  Tabitha  or  Dorcas — Follows  the  Crusader's 
road — Lydda — Field  where  Samson  caught  the  foxes — 
Tabatha's  tomb — Eamleh  and  Arimathea-Euins  of  Tell- 
el-Gayer  the  dower  of  Solomon's  wife — Valley  of 
Ajalon  where  Joshua  commanded  the  sun  and  moon  to 
stand  still — Latroon  the  burial  place  of  the  penitent 
thief — Kirjath  Jearim,  where  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant 
rested — Kasim,  the  burial  place  of  John  the  Baptist — 
Emmaus,  where  Jesus  walked  with  his  disciples — Brook 
where  David  got  his  pebbles — Description  of  the  con- 
flict between  David  and  Goliath. 

IV.  THE    HOLY    CITY 62 

' '  Jerusalem  My  Happy  Home ' ' — On  holy  ground — 
Ancient  history — Streets  of  Jerusalem — City  should  be 
studied  with  Bible  in  hand — Joppa  Gate — David's  Street 
— Markets  and  bazaars — Jews  and  synagogues — Charity 
of  wealthy  Jews — Church  of  Holy  Sepulchre — House 
where  Jesus  was  judged — Dome  of  the  Eock — The  Eock — 
Abraham  offered  sacrifice — Where  Ark  of  the  Covenant 
was  buried — Biblical  mention  of  Jews — Past  and  future 
of  Jerusalem — Circumcision  of  the  heart — Place  of  the 
Crucifixion — "The  Place  of  the  Skull" — He  is  risen — 
Grotto  of  Jeremiah — Tombs  of  the  Prophets — Prison  of 
Jesus — Solomon's  quarries — Masonry  instituted  here — 
Place  where  Stephen  was  stoned — Brook  of  Kedron — 
Tomb  of  the  Virgin — Garden  of  Gethsemane — Mosque 
of  Omar — Blood  of  Sacrifice — Site  of  Solomon's  Tem- 
ple— Wailing  place  of  the  Jews — Damascus  Gate — Place 
where  Paul  was  rescued  from  the  mob — View  of  Kedron 
and  Olivet — Stables  of  Solomon — Twenty-three  sieges  of 

14 


Chapter  Page 

IV.  THE    HOLY    CITY— (Continued). 

Jerusalem — "War  of  Peace" — The  upper  room — Stone 
of  Unction — Chapel  of  the  parted  Eaiment — Crowned 
with  thorns — Center  of  the  earth — Chapel  of  Saint 
Helena — The  True  cross — The  scape  goat — Pool  of 
Bethsaida — Mary's  Well — Pool  of  Gihon— Myth  of  the 
dragon — Upper  pool  of  Siloam — Lower  pool  of  Siloam — 
Aska  Mosque — ' '  Leaf  of  Paradise ' ' — Walls  of  the  city — 
The  steel  wire — The  Mount  of  Evil  Counsel — Valley  of 
Hinnon — Tombs — Caiaphas '  house. 

V.  MT.    OF    OLIVES    AND    BETHLEHEM 82 

Mt.  of  Olives — View  of  Jordan  Valley — Bethpage — Stone 
where  Jesus  mounted  the  ass — Tracks  in  the  stone — 
Fig  trees  in  Palestine — Jewish  almhouses — Home  of  Ger- 
man Knight  Templars — Valley  of  Pahhaim  where  David 
fought  the  Philistines — The  going  in  the  mulberry  trees — 
Valley  of  the  Giants — Well  of  the  Magi — View  of  the 
mountains  of  Moab  and  the  Dead  Sea — Gilol — The  field 
of  peas — David's  Well — Bethlehem  markets — Industries 
and  schools — Home  of  Euth — Here  David  was  anointed 
King — The  women's  Grotto — A  drop  of  milk — Field  of 
the  Shepherds — Ain  Karin — House  of  Zaccharias — 
Church  of  John  the  Baptist — Valley  of  Koses — Gaza  the 
city  from  which  Samson  stole  the  gates. 

VI.  JOEDAN     AND     JEEICHO 89 

"On  Jordan's  Stormy  Banks" — A  hard  trip — Bethany — 
Home  of  Lazarus — Spring  of  the  Apostles — Brook 
Cherith — Refuge  of  Elijah— Cave  of  Elijah — Valley  of 
Achor — "The  accursed  thing" — Inn  of  the  Good  Samar- 
itan— Elijah's  spring — Healed  of  Salt — The  Bible  a 
defense — Jericho — Nebo's  lonely  mountain — Mt.  Pisgah 
— The  Valley  of  Jericho — The  old  and  modern  cities — 
Home  of  Zaccheus — The  sycamore — Eiver  Jordan — 
Elijah  and  Elisha — Gilgal — Nebby  Moussa — Moslem 
Eastern  festival— Lot 's  wife — "Baksish,  Baksish." 
15 


Chapter  .  Page 

VII.  THE    WILDERNESS    OF    JUDEA 101 

Mountains  and  cliffs — Caves  of  the  hermits — Greek  con- 
vent— Chapel  of  the  Temptation — a  hard  climb — Moses 
at  Mount  Pisgah — The  prophesy  unfulfilled. 

VIII.  WHO    AEE    THE    BEDOUINS 104 

The  Arabs — Joseph  sold  to  Ishmaelites — Queen  Sheba's 
lineage — Descendants   of   Abraham — Havilah   to   Shur — 

A  nation  of  tent-dwellers — Mother  Hagar — The  Promise 
— Pride  of  the  Bedouin — The  unconcjuered — Unchanged 
by  years — the  camel  the  burden-bearer. 
The  Bible:     Its  use  and  study. 

IX.  THE    TWO    CREATIONS...  .   110 


/ 


PAET  II. 

Chapter 

I.     BIEDS    OF   PASSAGE. 
II.    A   CLOSING  WOED. 


List  of  Illustrations, 


I.  The   AUTHOR. 

II.  JESUS. 

III.  GALILEE. 

IV.  JOPPA. 

V.  TEMPLE  AREA  IN  JERUSALEM. 

VI.  THE   WAILING  PLACE. 

VII.  GARDEN    OF    GETHSEMANE. 

VIII.  MT.  OF  OLIVES. 

IX.  GOOD   SAMARITAN   INN. 

X.  RIVER   OF  JORDAN. 


JESUS. 


A  Knight  Templar's  Pilgrimage. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON  THE  WAY. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  pilgrims:  First,  those  who 
go  in  a  reverential  attitude,  to  see  the  native  land  of  our 
Saviour,  to  traverse  his  walks  up  and  down  the  land  of 
Palestine  and  to  gain  inspiration  from  its  associations. 

Second,  those  who  go  for  educational  purposes  only, 
who  see  in  that  noted  country  only  an  important  part  of 
the  world's  history  centers,  and  receive  only  the  knowl- 
edge and  polish  which  comes  from  extended  travels. 

And  third,  the  fault-finders  and  kickers  who  are  in- 
capable of  accepting  existing  conditions,  complain  at 
every  petty  inconvenience  and  spoil  the  pleasures  of  their 
companions. 

I  was  a  pilgrim  of  the  first  class.  A  journey  in  the 
Holy  Lands  had  been  my  cherished  dream  for  years,  and 
it  came,  as  every  other  good  thing  has  come  into  my  life, 
in  fulfillment  of  an  intense  desire. 

When  the  Knight  Templar's  Pilgrimage  was  adver- 
tised to  leave  New  York,  I  realized  that  the  way  had 
been  opened  for  me,  and  I  immediately  made  my  prepara- 

:  ?*'-: 


tions  to  take  my  long-desired  journey.  I  left  Eureka, 
Humboldt  County,  California,  January  13th,  on  the 
Steamer  Geo.  W.  Elder,  arriving  at  San  Francisco  the 
next  day.  I  found  in  San  Francisco  five  Knight  Tem- 
plars who  were  on  the  same  journey,  and  we  were  travel- 
ing companions  to  Washington,  D.  C.,  where  we  were  to 
secure  traveling  passports  from  the  State  Department. 

At  San  Francisco  I  fell  in  with  a  fellow-traveler  whom 
I  will  call  ''friend"  as  I  do  not  think  he  would  like  for 
me  to  give  his  name.  We  left  San  Francisco  January  20, 
1908,  over  the  Sunset  Route.  To  give  you  some  idea  of 
California  in  winter,  I  will  say  you  may  sit  upon  almost 
any  veranda  in  California  and  lift  your  eyes  from  the 
brilliant  green  ornamental  trees,  shrubs,  fruit  and  flowers. 
Think  of  Californians  leaving  such  a  climate  for  the  snow- 
clad  mountains  of  the  east!  Our  route  led  us  through 
Texas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi  and  Georgia  where  we  saw 
neither  flowers  nor  fruit.  I  said  to  my  friend,  "How  is 
this  for  the  Sunny  South — no  flowers?"  "Oh,  it  is  too 
cold  here,"  he  replied.  "See  the  negroes  with  their  over- 
coats and  gloves  on,  standing  about  the  bon-fires.  How 
could  you  expect  to  have  flowers?" 

When  we  got  to  Washington,  D.  C.,  the  temperature 
was  below  zero  and  the  wind  was  blowing  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  miles  an  hour.  We  had  to  walk  three  blocks  to  the 
hotel,  and  had  all  we  could  do  to  make  it,  as  the  frost 
was  something  new  to  our  lungs.  State  Senator  Rolley 
of  Humboldt  had  given  me  letters  of  introduction  to  the 
California  United  States  Senators — Perkins  and  Flint — 


and  shortly  after  my  arrival  in  Washington,  I  went  up 
to  the  Capitol  and  sent  my  letters  -and  cards  to  those 
gentlemen  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  In  a  very  short  time 
the  messenger  returned  and  asked  me  to  follow  him  in. 
It  was  recess,  and  Senators  were  standing  about  in  groups 
talking.  As  I  neared  one  group,  Senator  Flint  came 
briskly  forward  and  shook  my  hand  most  heartily,  "Mr. 
Wilson,  I  should  like  to  take  this  trip  away  from  you 
and  have  it  myself, ' '  and  went  on  to  express  his  approval 
of  my  contemplated  journey.  Quite  different  was  Sen- 
ator Perkin's  remark  as  he  simply  took  my  hand,  "I  do 
not  see  what  any  one  wants  to  go  wandering  over  the 
Holy  Lands  when  he  has  such  a  grand  country  at  home," 
and  turned  indifferently  away.  Senator  Flint  was  kind- 
ness itself.  He  took  me  to  Secretary  Root  who  supplied 
me  with  passports  and  letters  to  our  consuls  in  the 
different  countries.  These  were  very  helpful  to  me, 
especially  those  to  Consul  Harris  at  Jerusalem,  who  gave 
me  much  information  and  many  advantages  which  I  could 
not  otherwise  have  obtained.  Harris  found  out  that  I  was 
an  old  soldier  from  Iowa,  his  native  state,  and  we  were 
comrades  at  once. 

During  my  four  day's  stay  in  Washington,  Senator 
Flint  showed  me  many  courtesies.  He  went  with  me  to 
the  Library  Building  and  the  Patent  Office,  and  intro- 
duced me  to  several  of  the  cabinet  officials,  and,  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  I  was  to  leave,  had  arranged  for  me  to 
meet  President  Roosevelt,  but  unfortunately  the  intense 
cold  had  brought  on  me  a  profuse  bleeding  of  the  nose 

23 


and  mouth,  and  I  was  obliged  to  forego  that  pleasure.  I 
was  given  the  best  of  treatment  in  Washington,  but  my 
friend  said  any  place  but  Washington  for  him. 

After  a  stay  of  four  days  in  Washington,  we  left  over 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  for  New  York  City,  where 
it  was  colder  still.  On  landing  in  New  York  my  friend 
and  I  separated  for  our  five  days  stay  there,  and  did  not 
see  each  other  again  until  we  embarked  on  the  Steamer 
Arabic,  16,000  tons,  of  the  White  Star  Line,  specially 
chartered  for  the  Pilgrimage  to  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  Holy  Land.  I  will  say  nothing  of  New  York  City 
except  high  winds  prevailed  and  it  was  very,  very  cold. 
My  friend  said  that  New  York  and  the  "other  place" 
was  a  great  voyage  apart.  I  said  that  probably  the  rea- 
son so  many  lived  here  was  to  give  them  time  to  reflect 
and  do  better. 

"I  believe  all  you  think  about  is  something  good,"  my 
friend  said. 

"It  is  better  to  think  of  something  good  than  to  think 
evil,"  I  answered.  "I  would  rather  think  of  a  good  beef- 
steak than  a  bad  action." 

The  Arabic  sailed  8  a.  m.  February  6,  1908,  from 
White  Star  Line  Pier,  foot  of  West  Eleventh  Street,  New 
York.  The  Arabic  is  one  of  the  largest  steamers  in  the 
world.  The  service  of  the  White  Star  Line  is  unsur- 
passed. An  excellent  band  of  trained  musicians  played 
daily  during  lunch  and  dinner,  also  on  deck  and  when 
leaving  and  arriving  in  port. 

24 


The  company  on  board  was  a  very  congenial  one, 
made  up  of  Knight  Templars  and  their  families,  and  a 
few  others.  The  managers  of  the  excursion  made  good 
every  promise  in  the  way  of  traveling  accommodations 
on  land  and  sea.  The  officers  and  crew  of  the  Arabic 
were  as  good  as  ever  manned  a  vessel.  The  fittings  of  the 
vessel  are  palatial,  and  the  service  unexcelled.  The 
passengers  soon  became  acquainted,  the  charm  of  the 
" mystic  tie"  removing  all  feelings  of  strangeness,  and 
the  utmost  good  feeling  pervaded  the  company. 

From  New  York,  with  its  icy  wintry  blasts,  snow  and 
slush,  we  steamed  directly  across  the  South  Atlantic 
through  mild  latitudes  to  Madeira,  an  island  of  sunshine 
and  flowers,  where  perenial  verdure  greets  the  eye.  We 
were  eight  days  crossing  the  ocean.  At  Madeira  a  ball 
was  given  in  our  honor  at  the  fine  Casino  which  my  friend 
thought  was  an  elegant  affair. 

Funchal,  the  capital  where  we  landed,  lies  on  an  abrupt 
slope  with  mountain  peaks,  5,000  feet  high,  towering  in 
the  background.  Owing  to  the  steep  roads,  the  vehicles 
consist  of  sleds  drawn  by  oxen.  Nevertheless,  the  Island 
is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  spots  on  the  globe.  The 
highest  point  on  the  island  is  6,100  feet  high,  with  snow 
caps.  There  are  waterfalls  from  500  to  1,000  feet  high. 
Here  it  seemed  like  home.  The  flowers,  fruits  and  the 
climate  all  took  me  back  to  good  old  California. 

Columbus  is  identified  with  the  early  history  of 
Madeira,  for  on  seeing  Menina  Perestrello  at  a  school  in 
Portugal,  he  followed  her  to  her  island  home  and  mar- 

25 


ried  her  in  1473.  He  lived  in  Porto  Santo  and  afterwards 
in  Funchal.  His  father-in-law  was  a  mariner,  and 
Columbus  got  his  first  taste  for  a  sea-faring  life  from 
studying  his  charts.  It  is  said  in  1486,  a  wrecked  vessel 
drifted  to  Funchal  and  soon  after  its  arrival  all  on  board 
died  from  exhaustion  and  starvation.  The  pilot  gave  to 
Columbus  his  charts,  and  from  these  he  obtained  his  first 
ideas  of  the  existence  of  unknown  lands.  At  Seville, 
Spain,  is  a  fine  tomb  of  Columbus,  The  Biblioteca  Colum- 
bina,  built  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  Cathedral,  open 
from  ten  to  three,  was  established  by  Fernando  Colon 
(Columbus),  the  son  of  the  great  discoverer,  who  spent 
his  wealth  collecting  books  of  his  period.  It  contains 
30,000  volumes  and  some  of  them  relate  to  the  discovery 
of  America.  In  this  library  is  the  Bible  of  Alfonso  the 
Learned. 

Said  my  friend,  "I  would  never  marry  any  of  the 
island  women  because  of  their  customs  in  property  inter- 
ests. At  marriage  the  man  vests  one-half  of  his  property 
in  his  wife,  and  she  vests  one-half  of  hers  in  him,  and 
neither  can  dispose  of  it  without  the  consent  of  the  other." 

"Why,"  said  I,  "that  is  just.  I  cannot  see  anything 
wrong  about  that.  I  wish  it  were  so  in  America." 

"There  it  is  again,"  he  said,  "my  views  are  always 
wrong. ' ' 

The  tourist  will  get  very  few  ideas  in  Madeira  about 
the  latest  fashions.  This  is  the  home  of  English  walnuts, 
oranges,  lemons,  bananas,  figs,  etc.  My  friend  remarked 
that  the  largest  industry  is  beggars  (God  loves  a  cheerful 


giver).  Divers  hold  themselves  ready  in  small  boats  to 
dive  for  any  coin  which  may  be  thrown  into  the  water, 
which  they  never  miss  getting  before  it  sinks  ten  feet 
down. 

The  next  stopping  place  was  Cadiz,  Spain.  We  entered 
the  bay  of  Cadiz,  which  is  a  deep  inlet  forming  an  inner 
and  outer  bay,  and  came  to  the  City  of  Cadiz  situated  on 
the  extremity  of  a  long  narrow  isthmus  of  the  island  of 
Leon.  The  town  which  is  surrounded  by  walls,  forms 
nearly  a  square,  each  side  being  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
in  length.  The  houses  are  of  white  stone  and  as  one 
approaches  from  the  sea  it  presents  a  bright  and  clean 
appearance.  The  streets  are  narrow  but  well  lighted, 
and  flowers  bloom  everywhere,  clothing  ruins  and  aged 
walls  with  verdure.  There  are  some  pleasant  public 
streets,  the  finest  being  the  Alameda.  There  are  not 
many  fine  public  buildings.  The  cathedrals  are  poor 
specimens  of  architecture,  and  contain  little  of  interest 
save  in  one  there  are  two  paintings  by  Murillo,  old  and 
dingy  but  of  great  value. 

The  emancipation  of  the  South  American  colonies  was 
the  death-knell  of  commerce  in  Cadiz,  although  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  lines  of  steamers  are  benefitting  the  old 
city. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of  Europe,  having 
been  built  by  the  Phoenicians  under  the  name  of  Gaddir. 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  founding  of 
Rome,  and  has  been  in  the  possession  of  many  different 
peoples — the  Carthegenians,  Romans,  Goths  and  Moors, 

27 


and  was  taken  by  the  Spaniards  in  1262.  Three  hundred 
years  later  Sir  Francis  Drake  destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet 
in  the  bay.  Nine  years  later  Lord  Essex  burned  and 
pillaged  the  city.  It  has  been  besieged  in  turn  by  France, 
England  and  Spain,  seven  different  times  since  the  ravage 
by  Lord  Essex. 

The  finest  Spanish  cities  are  Cadiz  and  Seville.  Seville 
is  95  miles  distant  by  railroad  which  runs  through  a  most 
fertile  and  beautiful  country. 

''What,"  said  my  friend,  "is  your  opinion  of  Seville? 
One  thing  I  don't  like  is  so  many  dirty  beggars.  I  feel 
like  banishing  every  one.  They  are  a  nuisance.  They 
expect  money  at  every  turn,  and  the  churches  are  all 
beggars.  I  feel  like  I  never  want  to  see  a  church  again. 
What  I  like  is  the  bull  fights  and  other  games.  Bull 
fighting  is  so  interesting." 

"In  regard  to  beggars,  they  are  professional.  They 
make  a  business  of  it.  You  don't  need  to  give  to  them, 
nor  let  them  bother  you.  As  for  the  churches,  they  do 
the  same  in  America.  They  cannot  run  them  without 
money,  and  'the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.'  As  for 
bull  rings  and  other  games,  bull  fighting  seems  to  be  a 
Spanish  institution.  It  is  said  a  single  bull  fighter  in  the 
season  of  1894  killed  no  less  than  230  animals.  The  bull 
ring  in  Seville  is  an  imposing  building  with  room  for 
15,000  spectators.  It  is  a  cruel  and  brutalizing  sport,  and 
has  had  much  to  do  with  deading  the  mental  and  moral 
life  of  the  nation.  To  show  the  extent  to  which  this 
national  pastime  is  carried,  there  are  not  less  than  275 

28 


buildings  in  Spain  for  this  purpose.  What  do  you  think 
was  the  downfall  of  Spain?" 

"I  guess  you  are  about  right  this  time,"  he  replied. 

"Now  we  want  to  be  careful.  We  are  treading  on 
Holy  ground." 

"How  is  this?" 

Read  Romans  15:  29.  Paul  says,  "I  shall  come  in  the 
fullness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 

Next  we  reached  Gibraltar.  It  is  as  solid  as  the  Rock 
of  Gibraltar.  It  is  a  fortress,  a  colony  and  a  prison.  The 
highest  point  is  1,400  feet.  The  rock  is  honeycombed  with 
tunnels  from  which  the  gunners  can  pour  out  deadly  fire. 
Two,  one-hundred-ton  guns,  thirty-two  feet  long,  throw 
a  shot  of  two  thousand  pounds  a  distance  of  eight  miles. 

"Friend,"  said  I,  "how  do  you  like  Gibraltar?" 

"Don't  like  it." 

"Why?  If  the  Americans  owned  it,  it  would  be  all 
right." 

Now  we  are  entering  the  mighty  Sea  that  separates 
and  washes  three  continents,  stopping  at  Algiers.  Here 
we  see  a  population  of  Arabs,  Moors,  Berbers,  Turks, 
Bedouins,  Negroes  and  Maltese.  There  were  heavily  laden 
caravans  from  the  great  African  desert,  snake  charmers, 
and  an  endless  variety  of  wonders. 

"My  friend,"  said  I,  "What  say  you  of  Algiers?" 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "My  first  impression  is  that  they 
are  certainly  a  cut-throat  looking  gang.  If  they  are 
descendants  of  pirates,  they  know  nothing  about  manag- 
ing a  boat.  They  are  a  stupid  and  incompetent  set  of 

29 


men.  The  most  striking  object  in  the  city  is  the  hideous 
way  the  women  have  of  hiding  their  faces.  I  can't  see  if 
they  are  good  looking  or  not.  And  the  way  the  men 
dress.  Just  think  of  it !  When  a  man  is  marriageable  he 
wears  no  stockings,  and  the  married  men  wear  stockings. 
The  married  women  cover- their  faces.  I  want  to  get  out 
of  this  place. " 

"I  thought  they  were  all  right.  They  landed  us  safely 
in  their  little  boats,  and  the  bay  was  rough.  You  know 
God  does  not  look  at  the  outward  appearance.  It  is  the 
heart  that  God  searches.  You  put  me  in  mind  of  a  man 
that  kicked  at  everything.  By  the  way,  he  was  a  good 
musician.  He  was  asked  what  he  would  do  if  he  went  to 
heaven,  and  they  asked  him  to  play  the  piano.  He  studied 
a  minute  and  said,  'I  kick.  I  would  not  play.'  ' 

We  leave  this  beautiful  place,  and  steaming  along 
the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  we  next  visited  the  world- 
renowned  Island  of  Malta,  the  home  of  the  Knights  of 
Malta,  and  Paul  Bay  where^Saint  Paul  was  shipwrecked. 
(Acts  27.) 

The  Island  of  Malta  is  an  English  possession,  as  is 
plainly  evidenced  by  the  military  aspect  of  its  inhabitants, 
many  of  whom  wear  the  livery  of  King  Edward.  The 
island  is  strongly  fortified  and  large  companies  of  artillery 
and  infantry  are  stationed  here.  The  harbor  is  of  an 
even  depth  and  the  largest  vessels  may  lay  alongside  the 
very  shore.  The  island  forms  an  admirable  station  for 
sheltering  a  fleet  to  command  the  Mediterranean,  and 
makes  it  almost  as  good  a  fortification  as  Gibraltar  and 

30 


far  more  useful.  But  what  made  Malta  dear  to  me  and 
the  other  Knight  Templars,  is  its  historic  associations. 
In  Medina,  a  handsome  old  town  lying  inland,  is  the 
ancient  palace  of  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  order  of  St. 
John  of  Jerusalem.  In  1530  Emperor  Charles  V.  gave 
the  island  in  perpetual  sovereignty  to  the  knights  of  this 
order  who  spent  tremendous  amounts  of  money  in  raising 
fortifications  and  in  beautifying  the  island  in  every  way. 
The  soil  was  very  fertile  and  every  tropical  plant  will 
grow.  Malta  was  famed  in  that  olden  time  for  its  roses, 
the  island  being  often  called  the  "Rose  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean." The  knights  claimed  that  the  bees  made 
aromatic  honey  and  that  the  birds  were  more  beautiful 
than  in  any  other  land.  The  Knights  of  Malta  defended 
their  island  against  many  assaults  of  the  Turks  who  lost 
over  a  hundred  thousand  men  in  their  sieges  and  attacks. 
Though  waging  an  almost  perpetual  war,  the  knights  held 
possession  until  1798  when  overcome  by  Bonaparte's 
treachery,  and  disorganized  by  internal  dissensions,  the 
knights  surrendered  their  noble  fortress  to  the  French, 
but  two  years  later  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 
The  city  is  rich  in  relics  and  objects  of  interest,  repre- 
senting the  changes  which  have  taken  place  since  the 
Phoenicians  colonized  the  island  in  the  16th  century  before 
Christ. 

' '  Well,  my  friend,  what  say  you  of  Malta  ? ' ' 
"Malta  is  all  right,"  he  said,  "and  the  Knights  of 
Malta  are  all  right  too.    I  think  you  are  one." 
"Why?" 

31 


"Because  I  saw  one  take  you  in  his  arms  and  greet 
you." 

We  landed  at  Phaleron  Bay,  at  Athens,  the  largest 
city  in  Greece.  Here  is  Mars  Hill.  (Acts  17 :  22.)  Athens 
pleased  my  friend,  who  said, 

"Athens  is  a  lively  place  for  fun  and  to  stand  around 
and  tell  stories,  and  is  given  to  merry  games  and  play, 
and  has  many  idlers." 

' '  Read  what  Paul  said  at  Athens  and  you  will  see  what 
befalls  a  place  like  this."  (Acts  17:22-23.) 

"I  don't  think  this  trip  will  amount  to  much  to  me  as 
you  spoil  all  my  fun." 

We  left  Athens  and  steamed  through  the  Dardenelles, 
passing  the  site  of  ancient  Troy,  and  across  the  Sea  of 
Marmora,  and  arrived  at  Constantinople.  Here  we  spent 
three  days  sight-seeing.  When  we  got  through  sight- 
seeing I  asked  my  friend  what  he  thought  of  Constanti- 
nople. I  will  not  record  what  he  said  as  I  am  afraid  I 
might  be  tempted  to  agree  with  him  and  I  want  to  look 
on  the  bright  side  of  everything.  As  I  often  tell  my  wife, 
when  you  go  to  the  apple  barrel,  always  take  the  best 
ones  and  you  will  have  the  best  till  the  last.  My  friend 
takes  the  worst  one,  and  in  that  way  he  never  has  a  good 
one.  I  told  him  to  open  wide  the  windows  and  let  the 
sunshine  in. 

There  is  one  thing  in  the  Mohammedan  religion  that 
appealed  to  me  as  good,  and  that  is  the  Muezzin's  call  to 
prayer.  We  had  the  opportunity  to  hear  the  call  which 
is  this :  "God  is  great ;  God  is  great ;  God  is  great.  I  bear 


witness  that  there  is  no  God  but  God ;  I  bear  witness  that 
there  is  no  God  but  God.  Come  to  prayer ;  come  to  prayer. 
Come  to  salvation;  come  to  salvation.  God  is  great. 
There  is  no  other  God  but  God.  Prayers  are  better  than 
sleep."  As  soon  as  the  call  is  sounded  every  Turk  stops 
in  the  streets  or  in  his  place  of  business,  and  prostrates 
himself  with  his  face  toward  Mecca  to  pray.  The  writer 
was  fortunate  to  hear  the  Muezzin  call.  The  Moslem 
bible  reads  like  this :  * '  The  Messiah — Jesus,  was  the  son 
of  Mary  and  Joseph.  He  was  also  the  ambassador  of 
God.  Believe  in  God  and  his  ambassador,  but  do  not  say 
that  God  is  three,  for  God  is  one  and  cannot  have  a  son. 
Pray,  then,  to  God  alone — that  is  the  only  way." 

Here  we  are  in  Smyrna,  the  chief  city  of  Asia  Minor. 

"This,"  said  my  friend,  "suits  me.  It  is  lively,  proud 
and  gay.  They  dress  well  and  are  idle  and  have  games 
of  all  kinds." 

* '  See  what  Revelation  2 : 8  and  third  chapter  says 
about  Smyrna.  This  city  has  been  destroyed  time  and 
again. ' ' 

"I  will  quit  you,"  says  my  friend,  "as  my  sayings 
have  no  weight  with  you.  I  will  see  you  somewhere  before 
the  glorious  trip  ends." 

"My  prayer  is  that  you  may  see  things  on  the  bright 
side  and  you  will  live  longer  and  be  a  bright  star  to  all 
with  whom  you  come  in  contact.  My  prayer  is  for  you 
to  see  the  Holy  Lands  aright.  Take  off  your  shoes  as  the 
next  stop  is  Ephesus.  'I  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out 
of  its  place'— Rev.  2:5." 

33 


Every  word  has  been  fulfilled.  Epheans  is  all  in  ruins 
and  no  one  is  living  there  except  a  few  Mohammedan 
soldiers  that  guard  the  old  works.  See  the  Temple  of 
Diana.  Read  Acts  19,  and  you  will  see  why  it  is  in  ruin. 
Here  is  the  theatre  where  Paul  barely  escaped  death. 
Here  the  traveler  can  stand  and  bring  to  mind  the 
thrilling  scene  recorded  in  the  19th  chapter  of  Acts.  Here 
stood  Paul  for  two  hours  trying  to  make  himself  heard 
against  the  howling  mob.  The  theatre  was  the  largest 
in  Asia,  seating  over  30,000  persons.  The  Temple  of 
Diana  was  one  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  It 
was  425  feet  long,  225  feet  wide,  and  had  129  columns. 
Now,  you  cannot  find  anything  but  a  hole  in  the  ground, 
eight  feet  deep  and  full  of  water.  The  coins  of  Ephesus 
have  many  allusions  to  the  Diana  worship.  Josephus 
says  the  Jews  were  numerous  there.  Disciples  of  John 
the  Baptist  were  found  here  after  the  ascension  of  Christ 
—Acts  18 :  25  ;  19  :  3.  Paul  established  a  church  here  of 
which  Timothy  was  the  head.  It  is  supposed  that  St.  John 
the  Divine  wrote  his  gospel  and  epistles  here.  My  friend 
did  not  want  to  say  anything  about  this  place.  He  knew 
that  where  the  mighty  works  were  done  and  still  rejected, 
it  must  fall.  Once  a  great  city ;  now  nothing  is  left. 


34 


GALILEE. 

Galilee  circuit  district  is  sometimes  called  Sea  of  Chinnereth,  Sea  of 
Tiberias  and  Lake  Gennesaret.     "And  Jesus  returned  in  the 
Power  of  the  Spirit  into  Galilee"   (Luke  4:  14). 


CHAPTER   II. 


CANA    AND    GALILEE. 

Now  we  leave  for  the  Holy  Land — Haffa  or  Caifa. 
Our  ship  dropped  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Acre  and  we  got 
our  first  impressions  of  the  Holy  Land,  Caifa,  and  Mt. 
Carmel.  Carmel,  which  means  in  Hebrew  "garden  land," 
is  a  famous  mountain  in  Palestine,  rising  on  the  south- 
east to  1,700  feet.  The  soil  is  fertile.  (Isaiah  33 :  9.) 

We  recall  the  story  of  Elijah  and  the  Prophets  of 
Baal — 1  Kings  18 — "Then  said  Elijah  unto  the  people, 
'I,  even  I  only  remain  a  prophet  of  the  Lord;  but  Baal's 
prophets  are  four  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Let  them 
therefor  give  us  two  bullocks;  and  let  them  choose  one 
bullock  for  themselves,  and  cut  it  in  pieces  and  lay  it  on 
the  wood,  and  put  no  fire  under;  and  I  will  dress  the 
other  bullock  and  lay  it  on  wood,  and  put  no  fire  under. 
And  call  ye  on  the  name  of  your  gods  and  I  will  call  on 
the  name  of  the  Lord :  and  the  God  that  answereth  by 
fire,  let  him  be  God.'  '  Here  prayer  was  answered  and 
everything  I  shall  speak  of  was  done  by  prayer.  Here  we 
hear  Elijah  saying,  "Hear  me,  O  Lord,  hear  me,  that  this 
people  may  know  that  thou  art  the  Lord,  God."  And 
Elijah  brought  the  prophets  of  Baal  down  to  the  Brook 

35 


Kishon  and  slew  them,  and  the  brook  ran  red  with  the 
blood  of  the  Prophets  of  Baal.  Here  is  where  Elijah  said 
to  Ahab,  "There  is  a  sound  of  rain,"  and  Elijah  went  up 
to  the  top  of  Carmel  and  cast  himself  down.  Now  there 
had  been  a  drouth  for  three  and  one-half  years  and 
prayer  brought  abundance  of  rain. 

Leaving  Mt.  Carmel  we  came  to  a  fountain  where 
Heber's  wife  slew  Sisera  by  driving  a  nail  through  his 
temple.  Then  on  to  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon  where  Barak 
and  Gideon  won  their  great  victories. 

After  twenty-four  miles  of  carriage  riding  through 
'new  and  absorbing  scenes,  we  came  to  the  City  of  Naz- 
areth, 1,100  feet  above  sea  level.  In  the  time  of  our  Lord 
it  was  a  small  village,  but  is  now  a  prosperous  town.  A 
few  old  houses  remain.  (Mat.  2:33;  4:13.)  "And  he 
came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth:  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophets,  'He  shall 
be  called  a  Nazarene.'  "  (Acts  24:  5.)  Here  is  the  most 
harmonious  place  the  writer  was  ever  in.  Here  you  can- 
not and  do  not  want  to  think  evil.  Here  they  point  out 
to  the  pilgrim,  Joseph  and  Mary's  house.  It  consists  of 
three  rooms  hewn  out  of  solid  rock.  And  here  we  see 
Joseph's  work  shop,  where  we  may  be  sure  that  our  Lord 
must  have  spent  many  an  hour  of  his  childhood  and 
youth.  Here  is  the  place  where  the  men  of  Nazareth 
sought  to  cast  Jesus  down  headlong  over  an  awful 
precipice,  and  here  is  a  large  rock  20  feet  long,  12  feet 
wide  and  4  feet  high  which,  it  is  said,  our  Master  and 
his  disciples  used  as  a  dining  table  and  on  it,  Jesus  ate 

36 


his  last  meal  with  them,  after  his  ascension.  Here  is  the 
synagogue  in  which  Jesus  stood  up  to  read  the  scriptures. 
Here  also  is  the  fountain  at  the  edge  of  the  town  which 
has  been  its  one  unfailing  source  of  water  supply  from 
time  immemorial,  and  from  the  mountain  which  rises  500 
feet  above  it,  is  seen  one  of  the  grandest  views  of  Pales- 
tine; the  mountains  of  Naphtali,  the  snowy  dome  of  Mt. 
Hermon,  the  Highlands  of  Bashan  and  Gileod,  and  the 
Great  Plain  of  Esdraelon  and  Jordan,  the  Dead  Sea,  Mt. 
Carmel,  and  the  blue  waters  of  the  Mediterranean.  Here 
is  the  spot  where  the  Lord  often  came  to  hold  communion 
with  the  Father,  how  to  overcome  this  sinful  world  and 
to  show  us  the  way ;  and  here  He  could  look  over  the  land 
where  his  labors  and  sufferings  were  to  be  for  a  sinful 
race. 

Sunday,  March  8,  1908,  I  was  at  Nazareth  walking 
down  to  the  fountain.  A  boy  of  fourteen  years  came  up 
to  me  and  said,  "You  American?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered. 

"I  like  Americans." 

' '  That  is  nice.  I  am  glad  you  do,  my  little  man.  What 
is  your  religion?" 

"I  am  a  Christian." 

"What  do  your  Christians  believe?" 

"Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  we  believe  that  we 
should  do  what  Jesus  taught  us  to  do." 

"What  would  you  do  if  any  one  was  sick?" 

He  looked  at  me  for  a  moment  and  then  said,  "The 
Elders  of  the  Church  pray  for  them." 

37 


"Do  they  get  well?" 

"You  bet  they  do." 

"God  bless  you,  my  little  boy,  you  have  more  faith 
than  some  Americans  have." 

Like  a  message  from  home  was  the  bit  of  verse  given 
below  which  was  picked  up  from  a  table  in  the  hotel  office 
at  Nazareth.  It  was  printed  on  cardboard : 

POST-CAKD 


Memories  of  Galilee 


To  be  sung  by  tourists  on  the  Lake  of  Tiberias 


Each  gentle  dove,  &  sighing  bough:  That  makes 
the  eve,  so  blest  to  me:  Has  something  far,  diviner 
now:  It  bears  me  back,  to  Galilee. 

Ch.  O  Galilee!  sweet  Galilee!  Where  Jesus  loved 
so  much  to  be:  O  Galilee!  blue  Galilee!  Come  sing 
thy  song  again  to  me. 

Each  flowry  glen,  &  mossy  dell:  Where  happy 
birds,  in  song  agree:  Thro'  sunny  morn,  the  praises 
tell:  Of  sights  &  sounds,  in  Galilee. 

And  when  I  read,  the  thrilling  lore:  Of  Him  who 
walked,  upon  the  sea:  I  long,  oh,  how,  I  long  once 
more:  To  follow  Him,  in  Galilee. 


Name  of  tourist 

Date  of  singing 190 


Printed  by  A.  Ballora,  Cana,  Syria. 

I  stopped  three  nights  in  Nazareth.     It  was  a  hard 
thing  for  me  to  leave  here.    Had  my  family  been  with  me, 

38 


I  would  have  stopped  here  for  three  years,  it  is  so 
harmonious.  Here  is  where  I  got  my  desire,  as  I  prayed 
from  the  time  I  left  home  that  I  might  see  some  sign  or 
token  or  dream.,  and  I  heard  a  still  small  voice  as  plain 
as  I  ever  heard  any  one,  saying,  "Go  home.  Mind  your 
own  business  and  do  right  yourself  and  you  will  do 
wonders."  What  is  self?  They  that  have  ears  to  hear, 
let  them  hear.  I  will  say  that  it  is  a  hard  demonstration 
to  make,  as  self  sticks  out  often,  but  I  can  make  it  if  I 
stay  by  prayer.  The  Master  said,  "Pray  without  ceasing 
that  you  do  not  enter  into  temptation."  My  prayer  is 
that  I  may  see  the  right. 

We  left  Nazareth  and  in  five  miles  we  came  to  Cana 
of  Galilee.  At  the  southern  end  of  the  town  is  an  ex- 
cellent fountain  of  water.  Cana  was  the  home  of 
Nathaniel  and  the  place  where  Jesus  wrought  his  first 
miracle  and  demonstrated  the  power  of  God  and  his 
glory.  Here  also  he  received  the  nobleman  from 
Capernaum  whose  son  was  healed  by  his  word.  (John 
4:46.) 

When  in  Cana,  we  were  driving  along  the  shore  of  a 
small  lake  and  stopped  to  water  our  horses,  and  we  saw 
a  hundred  and  fifty  Russian  pilgrims  come  down  the  hill 
and  seat  themselves  on  the  rocks  about  and  eat  their 
noonday  meal.  There  were  men,  women  and  children  in 
the  throng.  Their  dinner  was  a  crust  of  dry  black  bread 
sodden  and  dirty.  The  children  were  packed  in  baskets 
and  carried  on  the  backs  of  donkeys,  as  were  any  adults 
who  fell  sick  or  who  were  unable  to  walk.  A  single  dirty 

39 


garment  was  worn  by  the  women,  and  the  children  wore 
less  than  that.  All  wore  rude  sandals. 

These  pilgrims  walked  2000  miles  to  be  at  Jerusalem 
at  the  Easter  time.  These  were  two  weeks  ahead  of 
time,  and  during  that  interval  must  subsist  on  the  charity 
of  the  public. 

Next  we  came  to  beautiful  bell-shaped  Mt.  Tabor, 
1,800  feet  above  the  sea  level.  The  beauties  of  this  moun- 
tain are  extolled  in  Psalms  89;  Jer.  46:18;  Judges  8:18; 
I  Sam.  10;  3. 

Then  we  crossed  the  great  Crusader  battlefield  of 
Hattin,  and  the  traditional  Mount  of  Beatitudes  and  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration.  (Mat.  5-6.)  This  is  a  beauti- 
ful mountain,  round,  and  flat  on  top,  near  the  Sea  of 
Galilee.  And  here  is  where  our  Lord  and  Master  came 
nigh  unto  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  went  up  into  a  mountain 
and  sat  down,  and  great  multitudes  came  there  that  were 
lame,  blind,  dumb  and  maimed  and  he  healed  them,  and 
they  glorified  the  God  of  Israel.  And  Jesus  said,  "I  have 
compassion  on  the  multitude  and  will  not  send  them  away 
fasting,  lest  they  faint  by  the  way."  And  the  disciples 
say,  "  Whence  should  we  have  so  much  bread  in  the 
wilderness,  to  fill  so  great  a  multitude."  Jesus  said, 
"How  many  loaves  have  you?"  They  said,  "Seven,  and 
a  few  fishes."  And  he  commanded  them  to  sit  down  on 
the  ground,  and  he  took  the  seven  loaves  and  the  few 
fishes  and  gave  thanks  and  they  did  all  eat  and  were 
filled  and  plenty  to  spare,  and  they  that  did  eat  were  four 
thousand  men,  besides  women  and  children.  And  Jesus 

40 


returned  in  the  power  of  the  spirit  into  Galilee.  (Luke 
4:14.) 

Our  party  picnicked  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Galilee  that 
day,  near  the  City  of  Capernaum.  On  leaving  the  hotel 
we  were  rowed  across  the  lake  on  large  boats.  The 
distance  was  about  eight  miles.  There  are  twenty  rowers 
to  each  boat,  Turks,  who  kept  time  to  the  movements  of 
their  oars  by  a  monotonous  "Hoo-Hah, "  repeated  in 
sing-song  tones.  Blue  Galilee  is  rightly  named,  heavenly, 
celestial  blue,  when  looking  at  it  from  a  distance;  but 
directly  beneath  the  eyes,  it  is  so  clear  that  nothing 
seems  to  intervene  between  you  and  the  bottom  of  the 
lake. 

When  we  lunched  at  noon,  at  my  suggestion  we  sang 
"Sweet  Galilee"  read  the  eighth  chapter  of  Matthew  and 
repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  concert. 

In  Galilee  Jesus  began  to  preach  and  say,  "Repent,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  and  went  about  all 
Galilee  and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner 
of  diseases,  and  his  fame  went  throughout  all  Syria  and 
Galilee,  Decapolis  and  Jerusalem,  Judea  and  beyond 
Jordan.  And  they  brought  unto  him  all  sick  people  that 
were  taken  with  divers  diseases  and  torments,  those  pos- 
sessed with  devils  and  lunatics  and  those  that  had  the 
palsy,  and  he  healed  all  of  them.  And  seeing  the  multi- 
tude, he  went  up  into  a  mountain  and  taught  them, 
saying,  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for 
they  shall  see  God.  And  when  you  pray,  do  not  as  other 

41 


people  do,  for  they  think  that  they  shall  be  heard  for 
their  much  talking.  Be  not  ye  therefore  like  unto  them, 
for  your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye  have  need  of 
before  you  ask  him;  that  thou  appear  not  unto  men  to 
fast  but  unto  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret,  and  thy 
Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly. 

The  Sea  of  Galilee  is  twelve  miles  long.  The  greatest 
width  six  and  one-half  miles,  and  the  maximum  depth  is 
157  feet.  The  water  is  clear  and  blue  and  has  the  right 
name — ' '  Sweet  Galilee. ' ' 

The  chief  towns  of  Galilee  are  Capernaum,  Kadesh 
Bethsaida,  Tiberias,  Nazareth  and  Cana,  besides  many 
other  smaller  villages,  the  ruins  of  which  are  scattered 
over  nearly  every  hill  top  and  hillside.  Here  was  the 
scene  of  a  greater  part  of  the  works  and  life  of  Jesus 
which  are  the  subject  of  the  first  three  gospels. 

Capernaum  is  owned  by  the  Catholics  by  a  concession 
given  them  by  the  Sultan.  Around  one  part  where  ex- 
cavations are  being  made  and  from  which  some  beautiful 
pillars  have  been  removed,  a  high,  closely  barred  iron 
wall  keeps  out  all  intruders. 

The  old  priest,  who  is  in  charge  there,  was  greatly 
angered  by  one  of  our  party  focusing  his  camera  at  him 
and  the  inclosure.  In  the  Syrian  tongue  he  scolded  and 
denounced.  Our  guide  said  that  he  was  forbidding  the 
party  to  take  any  pictures,  saying  it  was  not  allowed. 
The  guide  entered  into  an  argument  with  him  and  both 
were  rapidly  working  themselves  into  a  passion  when  I 
resolved  to  apply  my  rule  that  "Love  conquers  every- 

42 


thing,"  and  spoke  to  the  priest  in  German  saying, 
"Brother,  we  have  come  here  for  good."  Instantly  his 
countenance  changed.  He  cast  one  questioning  glance 
at  me  and  then  extended  his  hand  between  the  bars  and 
clasped  mine  in  a  friendly  grasp.  Then  he  told  me  that 
my  party  might  go  in  but  must  not  take  anything  away, 
not  as  much  as  the  tiniest  pebble.  I  then  told  the  others 
that  those  who  were  willing  to  abide  by  that  ruling 
might  go  in,  otherwise  they  should  stay  outside.  All  went 
in  and  were  shown  around  the  place.  On  leaving,  the 
priest  said  to  me  in  a  low  tone  in  German,  ' '  Stay  behind. ' ' 
I  did  so,  and  he  took  me  to  his  home  and  showed  me  many 
interesting  things,  and  when  I  left  gave  me  a  souvenir 
of  the  place,  the  first  that  had  ever  gone  out  from  there, 
which  is  one  of  my  most  treasured  mementos. 

Here  I  found  my  friend.  He  was  on  his  return  from 
Damascus  "brim  full  of  Galilee."  He  said  he  saw  a  fish 
that  his  guide  told  him  was  like  the  one  that  Peter  took 
up  out  of  the  water  with  money  in  its  mouth. 

"I  hope,"  he  said,  "you  don't  believe  that  tale;  and 
this  is  where  Jesus  walked  on  the  water,  and  Peter  tried 
it — that  is  another  thin  story.  And  they  claim  they  fed 
five  thousand  people  with  a  few  loaves  and  two  fishes. 
They  must  have  been  big  ones.  And  here  is  another  good 
one.  They  tell  me,  and  point  out  the  site  of  Capernaum, 
that  Jesus  said,  would  sink  lower  than  hell  when  she  is 
only  from  eight  to  ten  feet  below  the  surface.  The  idea ! 
When  the  whole  country  is  solid  rock.  And  there  is 

Bethsaida — they  claim  they  can't  find  any  trace  of  it,  and 

43 


that  place  is  a  solid  rock.    I  guess  I  have  you  up  a  tree 
for  once." 

"In  regard  to  the  money  in  the  fish's  mouth,  Jesus 
said,  take  no  thought  for  what  ye  shall  eat  or  drink.  My 
heavenly  Father  knows  what  ye  have  need  of.  He  sent 
out  his  disciples  and  told  them  not  to  take  money  nor 
two  coats,  and  heal  the  sick,  cast  out  evil  and  preach  the 
gospel.  And  when  they  came  back  he  asked  them  if  they 
had  any  need.  Nothing  whatever.  You  see  our  Lord 
and  Master  knows  what  we  need  and  he  will  supply  our 
wants.  But  seek  first  his  kingdom  and  right  doing,  and 
put  yourself  first  in  union  with  the  infinite  and  love  your 
neighbor  as  yourself,  then  you  are  keeping  his  command- 
ments. He  says,  to  love  the  Lord  your  God  with  all  your 
mind  and  your  neighbor  as  yourself,  is  the  fulfillment 
of  the  Law.  I  will  say  here  I  have  seen  a  good  many 
summers  and  I  have  never  yet  seen  an  instance  of  either 
man  or  beast  that  could  not  be  conquered  by  love.  It  is* 
working  wonderful  things,  every  day,  yes  every  hour. 
We  are  subject  to  the  power  of  love,  and  love  will  cast 
out  all  evil  and  fear.  Love  is  the  only  command  between 
us  and  the  Christ.  He  gave  us  no  other  but  to  love  one 
another — fervently  and  truly — and  if  we  are  filled  with 
love,  nothing  can  hurt  us.  In  regard  to  Capernaum  and 
Bethsaida,  Bethsaida  cannot  be  found — not  one  trace  of 
it.  Bethsaida,  "House  of  Fishing"  was  north  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee.  Here  is  where  the  blind  man  was  cured — Mark 
8:22,  "He  cometh  to  Bethsaida  and  they  brought  him  a 
blind  man  and  besought  him  to  touch  him.  And  he  took 

44 


the  blind  man  by  the  hand  and  led  him  out  of  the  town. ' ' 
Here  is  where  he  fed  the  five  thousand.  (Luke  9 : 10-17.) 
This  is  the  native  place  of  Peter,  Philip  and  Andrew. 
And  see  what  Jesus  said  and  how  he  condemned  Beth- 
saida.  "Woe  unto  thee  Bethsaida.  If  the  mighty  works 
which  were  done  in  you  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
they  would  have  repented  long  ago  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes."  (Mat.  11:21.) 

Two  miles  from  here  is  Capernaum.  The  centurion 
besought  Jesus  to  heal  his  servant  with  the  palsy, 
grievously  tormented.  Jesus  said,  "I  will  come  and  heal 
him."  (Mat.  8:6-7.)  And  straightway  he  went  into  the 
synagogue  and  taught.  (Mark  1 :  21-22 ;  John  4 :  46 ;  John 
6:17.)  "And  thou  Capernaum  which  are  exalted  unto 
heaven  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell."  (Mat.  11 :  23-24.) 

"Now,  friend,  you  see  the  whole  town  is  brought  low. 
You  say  the  ground  grows.  Why  don 't  that  hole  fill  up 
too?  You  see  every  word  Jesus  spoke  is  true,  and  that  is 
what  gave  him  the  title  of  Messiahship." 

Only  eight  miles  from  here  is  the  city  of  Tiberias. 
This  is  the  site  of  the  city  of  Herod  Antipas.  It  has  about 
seven  thousand  souls,  mostly  Jews.  Here  is  where  Jesus 
said,  "Go  and  tell  that  fox."  (Luke  13  :  32.) 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  other  place  on  earth 
where  so  much  of  the  beautiful  life  of  Jesus  was  seen  as 
here  at  Galilee,  or  where  such  mighty  works  were  done. 
Here  is  where  Jesus  loved  so  much  to  be  and  where  he 
spent  so  many  happy  hours  of  his  earthly  life.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  here  is  where  Jesus  met  his  disciples  after 

45 


the  resurrection,  and  it  is  saft  to  say  that  he  will  meet 
with  us  if  we  put  ourselves  in  union  with  him.  He  said 
he  would  come  and  abide  with  us,  and  we  have  this 
promise  if  we  love  one  another  as  he  has  loved  us,  "I  will 
love  him  and  will  manifest  myself  to  him."  Judas  said, 
"How  is  it  that  thou  wilt  manifest  thyself  unto  us  and 
not  unto  the  world."  Jesus  answered,  "If  a  man  loves 
me,  he  will  keep  my  words,  and  my  Father  will  love  him 
and  we  will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with 
him."  I  will  say  here,  this  is  how  he  will  appear  to  us 
nowadays,  and  unto  them  that  look  for  him,  shall  he 
appear  the  second  time  without  sin.  My  friend,  take 
courage  and  cast  all  your  care  on  him  and  watch  the 
results.  If  you  have  not  the  mind  of  Christ,  you  are 
none  of  his.  My  friend,  I  will  tell  you  my  vision  before 
I  close  this  book.  Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.  (Heb.  11.) 

Here  my  friend  and  I  left  Galilee  and  went  back  to 
Haffa  seaport.  We  went  through  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon 
by  Mt.  Tabor.  This  is  a  beautiful  valley.  Here  we  could 
see  big  and  little  Mt.  Hermon,  Naptha,  the  Highlands  of 
Bashan  and  Gilead,  the  deep  depression  of  the  Jordan 
Valley,  the  high  mountains  of  Samaria  and  Benjamin, 
Mt.  Carmel  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  This  is  where 
the  three  sacred  mountains,  Tabor,  Hermon  and  Carmel, 
can  be  seen  at  one  time.  Here  our  Lord  and  Master  often 
had  communion  with  the  Father.  It  was  quite  a  task  for 
me  to  leave  here.  Everything  around  me  was  so  harmoni- 
ous I  felt  like  camping  here  for  a  season.  I  could  see 

46 


why  God  selected  such  a  glorious  spot  for  his  dear  Son 
to  work  out  the  salvation  which  was  for  our  benefit,  and 
we  have  the  same  thing  to  do  sooner  or  later. 

"Yes,"  said  my  friend,  "but  the  road  is  rough  and 
rugged." 

"But,  my  friend,  here  is  where  Jacob  saw  his  vision 
and  we  must  go  up  step  by  step  till  we  gain  the  crown." 

"And  he  dreamed  and  behold  a  ladder  set  up  on  the 
earth  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven."  (G.en.  28.) 

Bethel  is  a  barren,  stony  ridge,  twelve  miles  north  of 
Jerusalem.  Jacob  built  an  altar  here.  Here  is  where 
Jacob  seems  to  have  thought  only  of  a  local  God  who 
lived  at  Bethel,  with  whom  he  was  disposed  to  make  a 
bargain  for  service  on  conditions.  The  beautiful  incident 
of  the  meeting  of  Jacob  and  Rebekah  at  the  well  exhibits 
the  pure  and  simple  habits  of  shepherd  life.  Laban  drove 
a  very  hard  and  shrewd  bargain  with  Jacob,  compelling 
him  to  serve  fourteen  years  for  Rachel  and  marry  Leah 
besides,  but  this  was  repaid  by  Jacob  in  sharp  practice 
in  making  himself  rich  in  much  cattle.  At  the  age  of 
one  hundred,  he  returned  to  Canaan  and  on  the  way  his 
name  was  changed  to  Israel — "God's  Soldier."  Jacob 
stayed  awhile  at  Shechem  where  he  buried  under  a  sacred 
tree  the  stolen  images.  At  Bethel  he  built  an  altar  while 
on  the  way  to  Hebron  where  his  father  was.  His  son 
Benjamin  was  born,  and  the  mother,  Rachel,  died  and 
was  buried  near  Bethlehem  where  a  tomb  preserves  her 
memory  to  this  day. 

47 


Kachel,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Laban,  wife  of 
Jacob,  mother  of  Joseph  and  Benjamin.  The  so-called 
tomb  of  Eachel  is  about  half  a  mile  from  Bethlehem  near 
the  Jerusalem  road.  It  will  be  observed  by  the  traveler 
to  the  right,  near  the  place  where  the  road  to  Bethlehem 
branches  off  from  the  high  road  which  leads  to  Hebron. 
The  identity  of  this  tomb  has  not  been  disputed,  for  this 
is  the  spot  which  for  many  hundreds  of  years  was  marked 
by  a  pyramid  of  twelve  stones  for  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel.  The  place  is  respected  almost  equally  by  Jews, 
Christians  and  Mohammedans. 


48 


CHAPTER  III. 


JOPPA    TO    JERUSALEM. 
A  message  from  home  : 

When  the  golden  sun  is  setting, 

In  that  far,  far  distant  land, 
And  the  ocean  waves  come  rippling 

Out  o'er  the  sparkling  sand. 
When  the  perfume  of  sweet  flowers 

Come  wafting  through  the  air, 
All   telling  the   same  sweet  story 

That   God   is  everywhere. 

When  evening's   twilight  gathers 

O'er  all  the  land  and  sea, 
And  your  thoughts   are   free   to   wander, 

Just  give  a  thought  to  me. 
When  morning  light  is  breaking, 

And  song  birds  fill  the  air, 
I  know  that  you'll  rejoice 

That   God   is   everywhere. 

When  in  Holy  Lands  you  are  traveling, 

And  God's  wondrous  work  you  see, 
On  the  banks  of  the  Eiver  Jordan, 

Or  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
May  there  come  to  you  sweet  visions, 

Gently  floating  through   the   air, 
Telling  you  in  words  so  true, 

That   God  is  everywhere. 

By  W.  H.  Mauzy. 
49 


I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  would  give  me  greater 
satisfaction  than  to  go  again  to  the  Holy  Land.  The 
Bible  has  become  a  new  book  to  me.  It  is  Palestine  that 
beckons  so  invitingly  above  all  countries  in  the  world  to 
the  Bible  student.  So  that  one  can  scarcely  resist  becom- 
ing a  pilgrim  to  its  sacred  shrines. 

Joppa  is  the  nearest  seaport  to  Jerusalem.  We  reached 
that  city  March  5th,  at  seven  o  'clock  in  the  morning.  The 
steamer  anchored  over  a  mile  from  shore,  as  the  harbor 
is  very  poor,  and  filled  with  jagged  reefs  which  make 
even  landing  in  the  small  boats  a  matter  of  no  little 
danger.  Turks  are  the  boatmen  and  their  boats  were  in 
readiness  for  us.  Everybody  went  ashore. 

The  house  of  Simon  the  tanner  was  the  first  place 
visited.  "Send  men  to  Joppa  to  call  for  one  Simon  sur- 
named  Peter."  (Acts  10:5.)  And  he  was  in  the  city 
of  Joppa  praying,  "And  I  saw  a  vision."  (Acts  11:5.) 
Here  Peter  had  his  vision  which  warned  him  to  regard 
no  man  as  unclean;  to  proclaim  his  message  of  good 
tidings  to  the  world  at  large,  not  merely  to  the  Jews  but 
also  to  the  Gentiles.  It  taught  him  a  great  lesson — the 
brotherhood  of  man. 

The  Holy  Land  is  like  a  stringed  instrument,  it  vibrates 
at  every  turn  with  the  beautiful  passages  of  the  word  of 
God. 

The  house  of  Simon  is  a  one-story  stone  building,  flat 
roofed,  ill-smelling  and  musty  from  being  long  untenanted. 
There  is  a  large  date  tree  before  the  door  which  has  been 
trained  all  over  the  roof,  and  as  one  walks  around  there 

50 


he  must  dodge  and  work  his  way  among  the  low-hanging 
limbs. 

We  next  went  to  Hotel  Howard,  a  good  lodging  place 
where  we  had  good  fare  and  service.  The  landlord  took 
the  Masons  who  were  in  the  party  out  behind  the  hotel 
where  is  a  lofty  tower.  We  ascended  the  tower  and  the 
landlord  pointed  out  to  us  the  Mountains  of  Lebanon 
from  whose  forests  the  great  timbers  for  Solomon's 
Temple  were  hewed  and  dragged  to  the  seashore  and 
floated  to  Joppa,  thence  transported  to  Jerusalem  down 
the  long  valley  and  up  a  raise  of  2,600  feet  to  the  height 
of  Jerusalem  to  Mount  Moriah.  How  these  immense 
timbers  were  removed  that  distance  is  not  known  exactly. 
But  with  all  the  mechanism  of  today  the  task  would  be 
a  herculean  one. 

From  the  tower  top,  we  were  shown  the  place  where, 
it  is  said,  that  Jonah  was  spewed  from  the  whale's  mouth. 
The  place  was  a  mile  north  of  us,  just  where  a  small  ravine 
makes  into  the  ocean. 

The  markets  of  Joppa  are  the  finest  that  I  ever  saw. 
Every  known  fruit  and  vegetable  and  meats  are  exposed 
for  sale,  arranged  on  the  floors  of  the  market  place  with 
women  sitting  beside  them  soliciting  your  attention  to 
their  wares. 

Camels  and  donkeys  are  the  means  of  transportation, 
the  streets  being  so  narrow  that  no  vehicle  could  be  used. 
Men  share  in  the  burden  bearing.  I  saw  big  half-naked 
Turks  carrying  huge  Dutch  sacks  of  wheat  from  the 
market  place  to  the  wharf,  there  to  be  loaded  into  the 

51 


small  boats  which  convey  them  to  the  steamers.  Two 
men  seize  a  sack  of  wheat  and  swing  it  onto  the  bended 
back  of  the  carrier,  bind  it  with  a  short  rope  which 
passes  across  the  forehead,  and  balancing  the  burden  by 
movements  of  the  shoulders,  he  proceeds  with  a  tilting, 
mincing  step  to  the  wharf,  a  fourth  of  a  mile  distant. 
Women  bear  their  share  of  the  burdens  and  more  too. 
They  go  two  and  three  miles  to  find  fuel,  carrying  great 
loads  on  their  heads,  and  if,  when  they  return,  their 
husbands  think  that  they  have  not  brought  enough,  they 
are  severely  beaten.  It  is  considered  a  shame  for  a  man 
to  cut  fuel,  carry  water  or  grind  flour.  In  every  alley 
are  seen  women  squatting  on  the  ground  grinding  flour 
between  two  stones. 

There  are  many  churches  in  Joppa  and  each  has  its 
quota  of  sacred  relics,  whose  claims  are  a  tax  on  the 
beholder's  credulity. 

We  were  shown  the  house  of  Tabitha  or  Dorcas,  whom 
Peter  raised  to  life  after  his  vision  and  while  he  was 
residing  at  the  home  of  Simon  the  tanner. 

The  present  population  is  about  40,000.  An  average 
of  20,000  pilgrims,  many  of  them  Russian  peasants,  pass 
through  Joppa  annually.  It  has  a  large  export  trade  in 
olives,  figs,  pomegranates  and  apricots,  but  especially  in 
oranges.  It  has  a  delicious  climate  and  is  surrounded  by 
four  hundred  gardens  or  orchards  of  orange  trees,  each 
garden  covering  from  three  to  twelve  acres. 

It  is  said  that  many  of  the  Jews  fall  upon  their  knees 
and  kiss  the  earth  in  their  joy  at  being  in  Palestine,  and 

52 


the  Russian  pilgrims  do  the  same.  Joppa  is  the  main 
entrance  to  the  Holy  Land  and  travelers  are  eager  to 
cross  the  Plain  of  Sharon  and  get  into  the  mountains  of 
Judea,  and  the  royal  city  of  David  and  Solomon.  But 
we  cannot  leave  Joppa  yet  as  every  part  of  the  land  about 
us  in  throbbing  with  Bible  memories.  My  friend  came 
in  while  I  was  writing,  and  said, 

"I  was  looking  at  the  bright  side  of  things  here  in 
Joppa.  I  was  up  to  the  place  where  Jonah  was  landed 
after  his  submarine  voyage.  I  was  just  thinking  how 
good  he  must  have  felt  when  he  got  up  and  walked  away 
and  looked  back  and  saw  that  great  monster.  That  is  a 
lesson  we  must  not  forget.  We  cannot  get  away  from 
God  and  we  had  better  take  our  medicine." 

"My  friend,  I  am  really  glad  that  your  mind  runs  for 
good.  I  can  see  you  are  looking  for  good.  That  is  one 
thing  we  can  find,  as  it  is  everywhere ;  and  now  as  we  go 
up  to  the  Holy  City,  think  nothing  but  good.  I  want  a 
good  report  from  you  in  the  Royal  City  and  I  want  your 
mind  clear  in  regard  to  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  and 
Master." 

Joppa  was  anciently  a  Phoenician  colony  in  Philistia, 
and  according  to  Pliny  it  existed  as  a  city  before  the 
flood.  Its  ancient  name,  "Joppa  the  Beautiful,"  is  said  to 
have  been  derived  from  Japeth,  one  of  the  sons  of  Noah. 
Along  the  highway,  out  into  the  open  desert,  are  long 
processions  of  patient  camels  in  single  file,  tied  head  to 
tail  together,  led  or  ridden  by  Bedouins  and  their  blue- 
draped  women  whose  faces  are  covered  by  black  veils, 

53 


and  all  whose  wealth  is  displayed  in  silver  ornaments 
on  their  heads  and  arms;  and  then  we  see  a  professional 
man  praying,  who  will  recite  the  Koran  at  five  cents,  or 
two  pence  half  penny,  a  chapter;  a  harem  bewailing  the 
lost  husband ;  the  ladies  of  the  mourning  family  preparing 
and  dispensing  cups  of  coffee  under  a  tent  pitched  close 
by;  and  on  Thursday,  the  weekly  festive  day,  all  the 
Moslem  ladies  of  Joppa  resort  to  the  cemetery,  their  only 
pleasure  garden  and  rendezvous,  to  pray,  picnic  and  gossip 
from  sunrise  to  sunset. 

From  Joppa  to  Jerusalem  is  thirty-six  miles  over  a 
fine  road.  This  road  has  for  ages  been  traveled  by  Pil- 
grims, Jews  and  Christians,  barefooted,  and  also  by 
devout  nuns.  The  dashing  crusaders  knew  it  well.  The 
timber  from  Lebanon  for  building  Solomon's  and  Ezra's 
temples  was  carried  over  this  road  to  Mt.  Moriah.  And 
Peter  the  Apostle  traveled  by  it,  stopping  at  Lydda  on 
the  way.  (II  Chron.  2 :  to  17 ;  Ezra  3 :  7.)  And  as  Peter 
came  to  Lydda  he  found  a  man  named  J^neas  who  had 
kept  his  bed  eight  years  and  was  sick  of  the  palsy.  And 
Peter  said  unto  him,  " Arise  and  make  thy  bed,"  and  he 
arose.  (Acts  9  :  32  to  38.) 

After  leaving  Lydda  we  came  to  a  handsome  fountain 
and  there  is  a  house  which  the  dragomen  point  out  as  the 
house  of  Tabitha.  Here  they  point  out  a  sepulchre  as 
that  of  Tabitha 's  tomb,  and  a  little  farther  on  is  the 
village  of  Yagus,  the  traditional  scene  of  Samson's  exploit 
with  the  foxes.  (Judges  15 :  4-5.)  Here  Samson  caught 

three  hundred  foxes  and  tied  tail  to  tail,  put  fire  brands 

54 


to  the  tails,  turned  them  loose  in  the  ripe  grain  fields 
and  had  the  whole  country  in  flames  in  a  few  minutes. 
Here  is  where  Samson  lived  in  the  rocks  and  where  he 
prayed  the  Lord  God  to  give  him  strength,  and  then  took 
hold  of  the  pillars  and  said  "Let  me  die  with  the  Philis- 
tines." At  this  time  he  slew  more  than  in  his  life. 
(Judges  16  and  17.)  He  was  from  the  tribe  of  Dan.  The 
account  of  his  birth,  life  and  exploits  is  given  in  the 
Judges.  He  was  the  strongest  man,  and  celebrated  for 
his  fearless  and  wonderful  acts. 

Mohamet  declared  that  at  the  last  day  Christ  will  slay 
anti-Christ  at  the  gate  of  Lydda. 

Next  we  came  to  Ramleh  famous  for  its  tower,  and 
Arimathea,  where  Joseph  came  from  and  begged  the  body 
of  Jesus  and  laid  it  in  his  own  tomb  wherein  no  man  had 
lain.  Between  Ramleh  and  the  next  village,  two  miles 
on  the  right  side  of  the  road,  are  the  ruins  of  Tell-el-Gayer, 
a  royal  city  of  the  heathen  on  the  border  of  the  tribe  of 
Ephraim.  It  was  taken  by  Pharaoh  and  burned,  and  the 
land  given  by  him  with  his  daughter  to  Solomon  as  a 
dowry.  Solomon  rebuilt  it.  (1  Kings  9 : 16.)  It  was 
here  that  a  few  years  ago  the  famous  Gayer  inscription 
in  ancient  Hebrew  and  marking  the  limits  of  the  land 
belonging  to  the  ancient  city,  was  discovered. 

Next  we  came  to  the  Valley  of  Ajalon.  "Sun  stand 
thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou  moon  in  the  Valley  of 
Ajalon ;  and  the  sun  stood  still  and  the  moon  stayed,  and 
there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it."  (Josh. 
10:12  to  14.)  What  wonders  prayer  does  accomplish! 

55 


Why  do  not  we  commune  more  with  the  Infinite  within 
our  temple?  As  Jesus  said,  "The  time  is  coming  and 
now  is  when  you  will  not  worship  in  this  mountain  nor 
at  Jerusalem,  but  worship  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth." 

Next  we  came  to  Latroon.  Tradition,  through  many 
centuries,  perhaps  ever  since  the  day  when  the  crosses 
stood  on  Calvary,  makes  this  the  birthplace  of  the  peni- 
tent thief.  From  Latroon  after  passing  guards'  houses, 
we  see  on  the  right,  Job's  well. 

Next  we  came  to  Kirjath  Jearim  (Joshua  9:17). 
Here  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  restored  by  the  Philis- 
tines— it  was  brought  here  from  Beth-Shemeh  and  placed 
in  the  house  of  Abinidab  on  the  hill,  where  it  remained 
until  it  was  taken  by  King  David  to  Jerusalem.  And  as 
we  go  on,  we  are  doubtless  in  the  track  of  the  wonderful 
procession  described  in  II  Samuel,  6. 

Many  villages  and  ruins  are  seen  between  Kirjath- 
Jearim  and  Jerusalem  which  are  not  positively  identified 
by  history,  either  sacred  or  profane.  It  is  supposed  by 
some,  however,  that  the  ruin  on  a  round  hill  beyond 
Eklala  was  the  house  of  Obededom  the  Gittite,  in  which 
the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  rested,  "And  the  house  was 
blessed."  (II  Sam.  6 : 10  to  12.)  We  should  see  to  it  that 
the  Covenant  of  our  Lord  and  Master  should  rest  in  our 
house,  the  temple  not  made  with  hands  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

This  place  has  been  identified  with  the  ancient  Mizpeh 
of  Samuel  (I  Sam.  7),  and  going  down  the  hill  towards 
Kolonich  we  see  in  the  distance  on  the  right  hand  (foun- 

56 


tains)  Kasim  the  traditional  burial  place  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist;  a  beautiful  valley  terraced  from  top  to  bottom 
and  planted  with  olive  trees  and  figs  in  abundance,  giving 
some  idea  of  Judea  as  it  looked  when  one  was  crying  in 
the  Wildnerness  of  Judea! 

The  traditional  Emmaus,  where  Jesus  went  with  the 
two  disciples,  is  not  far  from  here,  being  situated  on  the 
hill  west  of  Neby  Samuel.  From  here,  the  road  passes 
over  a  brook  from  which,  tradition  says,  David  chose  the 
smooth  stones  for  his  sling  on  the  occasion  when  he 
fought  and  slew  the  Philistine  giant,  Goliath  of  Gath. 
And  David  said  to  Saul,  "Let  no  man's  heart  fail  because 
of  him.  I  will  fight  him."  And  Saul  said  to  David, 
"Thou  art  not  able,  as  thou  art  but  a  youth,"  and  David 
said  unto  Saul,  "Thy  servant  kept  his  father's  sheep  and 
I  slew  a  lion  and  a  bear  and  this  Philistine  shall  be  as 
one  of  them,  seeing  he  hath  defied  the  armies  of  the  living 
God."  Saul  said,  "Go,  the  Lord  God  be  with  you." 
David  was  short,  light,  had  red  hair  and  blue  eyes,  was 
strong  and  swift  of  foot,  valiant  and  prudent.  He  was 
anointed  King  by  Samuel.  From  the  sheep-cot  he  went 
to  carry  food  to  his  three  brothers  in  Saul's  army.  He 
killed  Goliath  with  a  stone  from  his  sling.  Here  is  the 
brook  Elah,  from  which  David  selected  five,  smooth 
stones.  We  went  down  in  the  brook  and  walked  over  the 
pebbles  that  had  been  washed  smooth  by  the  great  force 
of  the  water  from  the  mountains  which  has  flowed  over 
these  pebbles  for  ages.  There  is  where  David  armed  him- 
self. He  had  a  great  many  to  select  from  and  found  just 

57 


the  size  he  wanted.  He  prepared  himself  with  five  volleys 
so  that  if  one  failed  he  had  four  more  chances.  The  place 
corresponds  with  the  Bible. 

I  got  interested  in  this  fight.  I  could  see  David  and 
Goliath  the  champions — the  one  God  appointed,  the 
other  evil  appointed.  Here  the  destiny  of  the  world  was 
at  stake.  Here  are  two  mountains,  five  hundred  feet 
high,  the  Philistines  on  one  and  the  Israelites  on  the 
other.  David  the  champion  of  God  and  the  Israelites; 
Goliath  champion  for  evil  and  the  Philistines.  The  fight 
is  in  the  valley. 

David  was  a  little  fellow,  under-sized,  a  youth,  tender 
in  years.  I  can  see  him  walking  forward,  as  the  Bible 
says  David  made  the  first  step  forward.  Here  comes 
Goliath,  the  Champion  of  Gath,  whose  height  was  six 
cubits  and  a  span,  a  helmet  of  brass  upon  his  head,  armed 
with  a  coat  of  mail  the  weight  of  which  was  five  thousand 
shekels  of  brass;  greaves  of  brass  on  his  legs,  and  a 
target  of  brass  between  his  shoulders.  The  staff  of  his 
spear  was  like  a  weaver's  beam,  and  his  spear  head 
weighed  six  hundred  shekels  of  iron.  And  one  bearing  a 
shield  went  before  him.  He  cried  unto  the  armies  of 
Israel  and  said,  "I  defy  the  armies  of  Israel."  You  can 
see  him  coming  in  all  his  array,  trusting  in  nothing — self. 

Here  comes  that  little  whipple  swinging  his  sling 
made  out  of  two  strings  of  flax  twisted  and  a  small 
leather  at  the  bottom.  Swinging  these  you  can  see  the 
stone  which  struck  Goliath  in  the  forehead.  David's 

58 


weapon  is  the  God  of  Israel,  and  he  can  use  it  at  long 
range. 

"Come  to  me,"  says  the  giant,  "And  I  will  give  your 
meat  to  the  ravens  and  the  beast  of  the  field;  your  flesh 
will  be  a  banquet  to  the  vulture  and  the  jackals."  I  hear 
him  laugh  through  the  mouth-piece  of  his  helmet.  "Come 
to  me,  you  contemptible  little  thing."  The  idea  that  a 
five-footer  should  dare  to  come  out  against  a  ten-footer. 

David  responded,  "I  come  to  you  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts."  And  he  who  fights  in  that  spirit  wins. 

' '  What  about  the  helmet  on  his  head, ' '  said  my  friend, 
"did  the  stone  which  David  flung  crush  through  the 
helmet?" 

"No.  You  see  when  Goliath  scoffed  and  laughed  and 
jerked  up  his  head,  the  helmet  fell  off  because  he  defied 
the  God  of  Israel.  David  saw  the  bare  forehead  and  the 
skull  cracked  and  gave  away  as  an  eggshell,  and  the 
ground  shook." 

Here  is  a  lesson  to  all.  If  we  go  in  the  name  of  the 
God  of  our  fathers,  all  our  battles  are  fought.  And  there 
is  nothing  too  large  for  us  to  tackle  if  we  use  the  sword 
of  Truth,  as  it  is  mighty  in  our  battles. 

The  sword  and  armor  of  the  giant  were  first  taken  to 
his  tent  in  Bethlehem,  afterwards  to  Nob,  and  laid  up  in 
the  tabernacle.  Saul  took  David  into  his  service  as  a 
minstrel.  Jonathan  was  his  friend.  Women  sang  his 
praises  as  superior  to  Saul.  Saul,  jealous,  sought  twice 
to  kill  David.  Being  afraid  of  David,  he  made  him 
captain,  and  David  behaved  wisely.  All  Israel  loved 

59 


him.  Michal,  Saul's  daughter,  loved  David,  and  Saul 
gave  her  to  David  for  a  price  and  David  paid  double  the 
price.  He  was  made  armor-bearer  with  a  place  at  the 
King's  table.  He  had  a  secret  meeting  with  Jonathan 
and  at  the  sign  of  the  arrow  David  flies.  He  eats  conse- 
crated bread  and  gets  Goliath's  sword  at  Nob.  The 
incident  of  the  water  at  Bethlehem — I  Chr.  11 : 17.  He 
takes  his  parents  to  the  King  of  Moab.  They  are  never 
mentioned  again.  The  Gadites  swim  the  Jordan  at  its 
flood  and  join  him.  A  royal  residence  in  the  City  of 
David — Zion.  His  wives  were  increased.  Hiram  of  Tyre, 
an  ally,  sends  cedar  wood  for  David's  palace.  He  blesses 
the  people  from  the  new  Tabernacle  on  Zion — "The  Lord 
of  Hosts,  He  is  the  King  of  Glory."  God's  house  is  de- 
signed. Uriah  is  murdered.  Nathan's  rebuke — "Thou 
art  the  man."  David  numbered  the  people  unlawfully  in 
pride.  Joab  and  the  captains  opposed  it.  Gad  the  Prophet 
warns  of  three  calamities.  David  would  not  choose,  and 
the  three  days  pestilence  killed  70,000  and  was  stayed 
at  the  threshing  floors  of  Arnan.  David  bought  the  site 
for  a  sanctuary.  It  is  now  marked  by  an  ancient  church. 
The  dome  of  the  rock  at  Jerusalem.  David  renews  his 
resolve  to  build  a  house  for  the  Lord.  In  short,  David 
was  a  shepherd,  soldier,  poet,  prophet,  priest,  statesman 
and  king,  a  friend,  leader,  devoted  father.  He  represents 
the  Jewish  people  at  the  point  of  the  change  from  the 
lofty  writers  of  their  older  system  to  the  higher  civiliza- 
tion of  the  newer.  He  was  a  type  of  the  Messiah  who  is 
called  the  Son  of  David. 

60 


David  as  King  was  above  reproach.  His  private  life 
proved  him  a  man.  Next  to  Abraham,  his  name  is 
cherished  of  all  the  ancient  Patriarchs.  His  writing  and 
instruction  are  far  beyond  any  other  scriptures  and  are 
equally  used  by  all  the  Christian  churches  and  by  the 
Jews.  I  think  the  saying,  that  he  was  a  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  meant  that  he  was  chosen  and  Saul  rejected. 
He  passed  through  trial  and  temptations  and  passions, 
and  his  noble  qualities  outweighed  his  faults. 


61 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE    HOLY    CITY. 

Jerusalem,   my   happy   home, 

Name  ever  dear  to  me, 
When  shall  my  labors  have  an  end 

In  joy  and  peace  in  thee. 

When  shall  these  eyes  thy  heaven-built  walls 

And  pearly  gates  behold, 
The  bulwarks  with  salvation  strong 

And  streets  of  shining  gold. 

Now,  my  dear  reader,  we  are  in  Jerusalem.  Take  off 
your  shoes  as  we  are  on  holy  ground,  and  look  for  good 
and  you  shall  receive  it,  as  good  is  present  everywhere. 
Look  pleasant!  Let  the  sun  shine  in! 

We  are  near  Mt.  Zion  and  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 
Here  is  where  Jesus  taught  and  practiced  his  wonderful 
works.  We  have  the  promise  that  we  can  do  the  same, 
and  mightier  works  shall  we  do. 

The  City  of  Jerusalem,  at  the  time  of  the  siege  of 
Titus,  contained,  according  to  Josephus,  more  than 
2,700,000  people.  The  Jewish  population  has  largely  in- 
creased of  late  in  Jerusalem  as  well  as  in  Palestine 
generally,  although  measures  have  been  taken  by  the 
Turkish  government  to  stem  the  incoming  tide.  Jeru- 

62 


salem  is  a  very  old  city.  When  Abraham  returned  from 
pursuing  the  Kings  of  the  Plains,  he  met  Melchizedek, 
King  of  Salem,  the  Priest  of  the  Most  High  God.  Inside 
of  the  walls,  starting  first  from  the  Damascus  gate,  a 
street  divides  the  Moslems  quarters  on  the  east  from  the 
Christian  quarter  on  the  west,  and  the  prolongation  of 
the  same  thoroughfare  separates  the  Jewish  quarter  on 
the  east  from  that  of  the  Armenians  on  the  west.  David 's 
Street  leading  from  the  Joppa  gate  to  the  Haram  (Solo- 
mon's Temple)  at  first  separates  the  Christian  quarter 
on  the  north,  from  the  Armenian  to  the  south;  and  later 
on  it  divides  the  Moslem  to  the  north  from  the  Jewish 
quarter  to  the  south;  thence  from  St.  Stephen's  Gate  to 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  where  was.  it  is  be- 
lieved, the  western  wall,  and  thence  by  Christian  Street 
into  David's  Street,  the  chief  thoroughfare,  and  has 
traversed  the  length  and  breadth  of  modern  Jerusalem. 
This,  however,  cannot  cover  the  full  area  of  the  ancient 
city  which  was  able  to  accommodate  at  the  solemn 
festivals,  as  Josephus  relates,  at  least  as  many  as 
2,700,000  persons  that  were  pure  and  holy  enough  for  it 
to  be  lawful  for  them  to  be  partakers  of  the  sacrifice,  not 
to  mention  the  many  thousands  who  were  debarred  by 
some  physical  impurity  or  defect  from  this  privilege.  We 
have  yet  to  learn  how  far  Jerusalem  extended  at  that,  and 
at  other  periods  of  her  great  glory. 

At  night,  the  streets  are  dark  and  it  is  not  considered 
prudent  to  go  inside  the  walls.  A  thousand  interesting 
points  in  this  venerable  city  await  the  observing  eye,  and 

63 


that  leisurely  and  scholarly  study  which  is  not  often 
lavished  on  Jerusalem,  through  which  pilgrims  pass  at  a 
gallop,  regarding  it  as  any  other  city  or  hamlet.  The 
traveler  should  read  the  Bible  through  once  more  in  the 
Holy  Land — the  only  way  you  can  get  understanding  and 
full  enjoyment  of  the  book  itself. 

Starting  from  the  Joppa  Gate  we  are  descending  David 
Street  by  many  broad,  shallow  steps.  We  pass  the  grain 
market  and  bazaars  and  arrive  finally  at  one  of  the  gates 
of  the  Haram. 

The  Mohammedans  revere  Jerusalem  as  one  of  their 
four  holy  cities,  only  second  to  Mecca.  For  the  Jews, 
Jerusalem  is  the  only  one,  and  here  they  come  to  die  and 
to  be  buried  in  its  sacred  soil;  here  they  live  on  the 
charity  of  their  wealthy  brothers  all  over  the  world,  and 
by  these  benefactions  Jewish  children  are  educated 
gratuitously.  There  are  some  prosperous  Jews  living  in 
Jerusalem,  but  in  spite  of  all  charity,  the  mass  of  the 
Jews  are  poor  and  physically  degenerate.  One  of  the 
synagogues,  of  which  there  are  three  principal  and  many 
smaller  ones,  all  of  course,  in  the  Jewish  quarter,  should 
by  all  means  be  visited.  The  beautiful,  pale  green  dome 
of  one  of  these,  is  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the  view  of 
Jerusalem  as  seen  from  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Very  old 
and  beautifully  inscribed  rolls  of  the  Old  Testament  may 
be  seen  here.  Jews  are  not  allowed  to  pass  before  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  they  having  crucified 
Christ.  This  is  an  unwritten  law,  passed  and  enforced 
by  the  less  civilized  element  of  the  Christian  body  in 

64 


DAVID'S    STREET. 


Jerusalem;  and  Jews  are  also  excluded  by  their  own  re> 
ligious  scruples  from  the  Moslem  enclosure,  where  stood 
their  King  Solomon's  Temple  in  all  its  glory.  We  were 
admitted  to  the  jealously  guarded  spot  enclosing,  as  it 
does,  the  dome  of  the  rock — one  of  the  holiest  of  shrines 
to  the  Moslem.  The  house  where  Jesus  was  judged  is 
located  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Haram.  The 
Crusaders  respected  the  dome  of  the  rock  and  held  sacred 
service  in  it,  but  used  the  Mosque  for  a  stable,  despising 
it  as  a  work  of  the  Jews. 

The  Holy  Rock  itself  is  57  feet  long  and  43  feet  wide, 
rising  6  feet  above  the  ground,  and  hovering,  as  faithful 
Mohammedans  assert,  without  any  support,  over  a  cavern 
which  through  a  hole  in  the  rock  has  received  the  blood 
of  innumerable  sacrifices  in  all  ages,  for  here  Abraham 
worshipped  and  offered  sacrifices  and  burnt  offerings,  and 
here  Elijah  and  David,  Jesus  and  people  of  all  nations, 
have  shed  tears  and  prayed. 

According  to  tradition,  the  souls  of  righteous  dead  • 
come  here  twice  a  week  to  pray.  The  Ark  of  the  Cove- 
nant is  supposed  to  be  buried  below,  on  which  account 
no  Jew  would  venture  to  cross  the  threshold  of  the  Mosque 
of  Omar  lest  he  should  unwittingly  profane  the  Holy  of 
Holies  by  his  tread. 

According  to  the  Bible,  the  Jews  were  first  mentioned 
as  "Jews"  in  II  Kings  16:6.  Jeremiah  frequently  used 
the  name,  perhaps  because  the  Tribe  of  Judah  was  very 
numerously  represented  in  the  captivity.  In  the  New 
Testament  the  Jews  are  spoken  of  as  the  opponents  of 

65 


the  Gospel,  as  the  independent  thinkers,  and  separation 
of  the  Church  and  State  with  the  falling  to  pieces  of  the 
Jewish  Church  in  favor  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

The  past  of  Jerusalem  is  full  of  thoughts,  but  the 
future  is  equally  impressive.  These  ruins  are  not  always 
to  remain.  The  future  temple  and  the  restored  Israel 
when  Jerusalem  shall  be  the  throne  of  the  Lord  to  all 
nations,  claim  the  most  earnest  thought.  The  day  when 
the  feet  of  the  Lord  shall  stand  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
which  is  over  against  Jerusalem  toward  the  east,  is  full 
of  importance,  and  whether  we  look  backward  or  forward, 
we  have  to  speak  of  Zion  as  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth, 
for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews. 

"I  suppose,"  said  my  friend,  "you  will  be  circumcised 
before  you  go  back,  as  you  think  the  Jews  are  all  right. ' ' 

"Except  ye  be  circumcised  of  the  heart,  you  are  none 
of  His.  Circumcision  of  the  flesh  profits  nothing.  We  all 
are  Jews  that  are  circumcised  of  the  heart.  God  wants 
a  pure  and  contrite  heart.  Such  he  seeks  to  worship  him. 
He  does  not  look  on  the  flesh  but  he  wants  a  pure  mind 
and  if  we  have  not  the  mind  of  Christ,  we  are  none  of 
His." 

"They  show  two  places,"  said  my  friend,  "where  they 
crucified  Jesus.  The  Romans  have  one  place  in  their 
church,  and  another  is  in  the  Sepulchre." 

' '  Now  please  go  with  me  out  through  Damascus  Gate 
to  the  hill  that  is  called  Mt.  Calvary.  Here  we  observe 
a  gently  rounded  hill  which  resembles  a  human  skull. 
Here  we  see  eye-sockets  and  a  human  skull.  This  is  said 

66 


by  the  Jews  to  be  the  true  site  and  not  that  shown  in 
the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre.  This  round  and  hollow  hill 
shaped  like  a  skull  is  the  true  Golgotha,  the  place  of  a 
skull,  and  not  the  other.  Here  is  where  the  three  crosses 
stood.  If  so,  perhaps  the  sepulchre  whose  now  open 
mouth  we  see  not  far  to  the  west  of  the  hill,  is  that  which 
belonged  to  Joseph  of  Arimathea  wherein  never  man  laid. 
And  the  women  came  early  on  the  third  day  wondering 
who  should  roll  away  the  heavy  stone  which  closed  its 
entrance,  when  an  angel  in  bright  raiment  appeared  unto 
them  and  said,  'Our  Lord  is  not  here.  He  is  risen.'  ' 

Our  guide  was  explaining  how  our  Lord  and  Master 
was  crucified  and  Joseph  had  begged  the  body  and  had 
laid  it  in  this  tomb,  and  one  of  our  party,  a  lady  from 
America,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  asked  the  guide,  ''Is  he  in 
there  yet?"  Just  imagine  how  we  all  felt  and  how  we 
looked  at  one  another,  but  not  a  word  was  spoken  by  us. 
The  guide  says,  "No,  Madam,  he  has  risen,  and  I  am  sorry 
if  he  has  not  risen  in  your  conscience." 

I  realized  more  than  ever  that  he  had  risen,  as  my 
mind  went  to  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  St.  John,  where 
he  said,  "I  will  pray  to  the  Father  and  he  shall  give  you 
another'  Comforter,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  forever; 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth ;  whom  the  world  cannot  receive, 
because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him:  but  ye 
know  him ;  for  he  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you. 
But  the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things 
and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance."  For  this 

67 


end  Christ  rose  and  revived.     That  made  him  Lord  both 
of  the  dead  and  the  living. 

Here  is  a  cavern  in  the  hillside,  called  the  Grotto  of 
Jeremiah,  in  which  the  Prophet  is  supposed  to  have 
written  his  Book  of  Lamentations.  In  this  same  hill  are 
the  tombs  of  the  Kings  and  Prophets.  From  the  Church 
of  Holy  Sepulchre  to  Golgotha  is  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  while  the  other  place  is  close  to  the  cell  where  Jesus 
was  in  prison.  The  prison  is  a  room  hewn  out  of  solid 
rock  and  a  large  rolling  stone  to  close  it.  The  rolling 
stones  are  round  and  flat.  They  have  a  groove  at  the  top 
and  bottom  chiseled  out  of  solid  rock. 

"They  don't  agree,"  said  my  friend,  "on  the  site  of 
David's  tomb,  or  King  Solomon's.  (Read  Neh.  3:16.) 
' '  What  about  the  quarry  ?  I  am  afraid  to  go  in  it  as  they 
say  it  is  not  safe  and  one  could  get  lost.  Were  you  in  it?" 

"Yes,  I  was,  and  it  is  worth  seeing.  One  hundred 
paces  east  of  the  Damascus  Gate  there  is  an  entrance 
through  the  foundation  of  the  city  wall  to  quarries  in 
which  workmen — dead  perhaps  thirty  centuries  ago — 
left  some  of  their  work  unfinished,  exhibiting  to  this  latter 
age  their  method  of  operation,  and  showing  how  Jeru- 
salem was  built.  The  rock  roof  is  sustained  by  huge 
pillars.  The  quarry  extends  under  a  large  part  of  the 
existing  city  but  it  should  be  visited  in  company  with  an 
experienced  and  careful  guide,  otherwise  there  is  risk 
of  pitching  headlong  into  the  dark.  The  quarry  extends 
700  feet  under  the  city.  Its  stones  are  white  and  quite 
soft,  but  hardens  when  exposed  to  the  air.  The  place  is 

68 


interesting  to  Masons,  as  many  hold  the  Masonry  was  here 
instituted  by  King  Solomon.  Emblems  made  from  the 
stone  are  highly  prized  by  the  fraternity.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  that  many  temples  and  buildings  were  built 
from  these  stones,  as  the  quarry  is  very  large.  In  the 
quarry  we  met  as  Masons  and  had  our  pictures  taken." 
As  we  came  out  of  the  quarry  on  the  highway  leading 
via  Mount  Olives  to  Jericho,  my  friend  and  I  were  in 
conversation. 

"I  am  not  satisfied,"  said  he,  "with  the  place  where 
your  guide  says  that  Jesus  was  crucified,  as  I  paid  one 
franc  to  see  another  place  of  crucifixion  inside  the  walls. ' ' 

"You  must  take  the  Bible  for  your  guide  in  the  Holy 
Land,  as  this  is  the  spot  that  God  chose  to  send  His  only 
begotten  Son  to  do  his  mighty  works  and  frame  the  Bible, 
and  it  is  a  rule  and  guide  to  our  faith.  Do  you  see  that 
round  hill,  the  shape  of  a  human  skull?  And  the  Bible 
says  that  Calvary  was  the  place  of  a  skull.  Look!  Be- 
neath the  forehead  is  a  cavern  that  looks  like  eyeless 
sockets.  You  see  the  shape  of  a  skull." 

"Yes,  I  see  all  that,  but  they  make  that  other  place 
so  plain." 

"Yet  surely  you  do  not  see  any  signs  of  Calvary  or 
place  of  skull.  The  Bible  says  that  Jesus  was  crucified 
outside  the  gate,  and  this  is  outside  the  gate,  while  the 
site  you  speak  of  is  inside  the  gate ;  and  besides,  this  skull- 
hill  was  for  ages  the  place  where  malefactors  were  put 
to  death,  and  Jesus  was  slain  as  a  malefactor,  and  the 
Bible  says  it  took  place  beside  a  thoroughfare  along  which 

69 


people  went  wagging  their  heads,  and  there  is  the  thor- 
oughfare. You  see  the  inside  place  is  a  money  affair. 
This  is  free. '  Here  is  another  proof  that  this  is  the  place — 
as  the  Jews  go  by  this  place,  they  spit  at  this  hill  in 
contempt  of  Christ  Jesus." 

"I  will  accept  this  place." 

"Look  yonder!  You  can  see  the  cracks  and  crevices 
in  the  rocks  which  were  made,  I  think,  by  the  convulsions 
of  nature  when  Jesus  died.  Here  is  the  place  where  they 
crucified  Him.  Two  others  with  him  and  Jesus  in  the 
midst.  "Behold  thy  mother."  "This  day  thou  shalt  be 
with  me  in  Paradise."  "Father  forgive  them;  they  know 
not  what  they  do.  If  it  is  possible,  let  this  cup  pass 
from  me.  I  thirst!"  What  sighs!  What  tears!  What 
sorrow!  What  agony! 

While  I  stood  there  the  whole  scene  came  to  me.  Here 
is  the  first  place  my  friend  shed  tears,  and  my  dear  reader, 
if  any  one  can  pass  through  this  scene  without  shedding 
tears,  he  has  a  heart  of  stone.  We  see  one  of  the  thieves 
repenting.  We  see  a  group  of  gamblers  casting  lots  for 
the  coat  of  the  dying  Saviour.  We  see  women — mothers — 
and  some  whom  he  had  healed  and  from  whom  he  had 
cast  out  evil  spirits  or  thoughts  and  demons.  Just  think 
of  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere !  It  was  not  a  solar 
eclipse  such  as  we  ourselves  have  seen.  It  is  dark- 
darker — until  you  cannot  see  the  surrounding  hills; 
darker  still,  till  the  chin  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  falls 
on  his  breast,  and  then  we  hear  him  saying,  "It  is 
finished."  And  as  I  stood  here,  silence  took  possession 

70 


of  me  and  the  thought  came  to  me  that  the  whole  world 
would  be  moved  toward  this  hill.  The  Prophets  pointed 
forward  to  this  hill.  The  Apostles  and  martyrs  pointed 
backward  toward  this  hill,  and  all  heaven  has  pointed 
downward.  I  could  endure  the  scene  no  longer,  and  we 
next  met  at  St.  Stephen's  Gate. 

We  crossed  a  Moslem  cemetery  to  the  spot  where  St. 
Stephen  was  stoned,  and  descending  a  steep  path  we 
crossed  the  Brook  Kedron  ( Jer.  31 :  40 ;  II  Chron.  30  13  :14) 
passing  the  upper  part  of  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  and 
the  Tomb  of  the  Virgin  to  the  left. 

Here  to  the  right  is  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  "Oil 
press,"  near  Jerusalem,  the  garden  of  our  Lord's  agony. 
( Matt.  26:36.)  "  Sit  ye  here  while  I  go  and  pray  yonder. ' ' 
(Mark  14:32;  John  18:1.)  Just  think  what  took  place 
here  at  different  times,  but  especially  the  night  before  the 
crucifixion.  The  garden  is  300  x  200  feet,  enclosed  by  a 
high  wall.  There  are  eight  large  olive  trees  which  look 
to  be  old  enough  to  be  the  very  trees  that  were  here  at 
the  time  of  the  shedding  of  tears  of  blood. 

We  come  to  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  a  throne  of  Moham- 
medan, where  we  are  met  at  the  door  by  soldiers  who 
bring  slippers  which  we  must  put  on  before  we  take  a 
step  further,  lest  our  feet  pollute  the  sacred  place.  A 
man  attempting  to  go  in  without  these  slippers  would  be 
.stopped  by  the  soldiers  on  guard  there.  In  these  awk- 
ward sandals,  adjusted  as  well  as  we  could,  we  are  led 
to  where  we  see  a  rock  with  an  opening  in  it  through 

71 


which,  no  doubt,  the  blood  of  sacrifice  in  the  ancient 
temple  rolled  down  and  away. 

Whatever  else  may  be  said  about  the  sites  of  Jeru- 
salem, one  thing  is  positively  sure,  and  that  is,  that  the 
Mosque  of  Omar,  or  as  it  should  properly  be  called,  the 
"Dome  of  the  Rock,"  marks  the  spot  where  stood  Solo- 
mon's Temple,  and  where  afterwards  stood  the  imposing 
temple  of  Herod.  There  is  but  little  doubt,  but  that  here 
is  where  Abraham  offered  up  Isaac  as  a  sacrifice.  Ven- 
erated alike  by  Jew,  Moslem  and  Christian,  up  to  fifty 
years  ago,  the  Moslems  so  restricted  the  entire  area  that 
no  Christian  was  able  to  gain  entrance.  The  enclosure 
has  an  area  of  thirty-six  acres — about  one-sixth  of  the 
entire  space  inside  of  the  walls  of  the  city. 

I  was  glad  when  I  got  through  it  and  could  take  off 
the  cumbrous  slippers  and  step  into  the  clear  air.  They 
are  nothing  like  the  sandals  of  old.  The  Moslems  have 
no  mechanical  eye,  as  the  ones  they  put  on  me  were  large 
enough  for  Goliath,  and  for  the  time  we  were  walking 
through  the  Mosque  of  Omar — about  ten  minutes — we 
had  to  pay  one  franc,  equal  to  20  cents  of  our  money. 

Leaving  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  we  see  a  curve  of  stone 
which  is  part  of  the  bridge  that  once  reached  from  Mount 
Moriah  to  Mount  Zion,  and  over  it  David  walked  or  rode, 
to  pray  in  the  temple. 

We  next  visited  an  ancient  wall  consisting  of  broken 
stones  and  debris  which  had  formed  the  wall  of  a  Hebrew 
temple,  where  is  the  "Wailing  place"  of  the  Jews,  where 
for  centuries  almost  perpetually,  during  the  day  time, 

72 


THE    WAILING   PLACE. 

The  Wailing-  Place  is  a  portion  of  the  wall  of  the  temple  which  is 

certainly  very  old.     Jews  constantly  visit  this  place 

kissing  the  stones  and  weeping. 


whole  generations  of  the  Jews  have  stood,  putting  their 
heads  and  lips  against  the  wall  of  what  is  supposed  to  be 
a  part  of  Solomon's  Temple,  and  it  is  now  smooth  with 
their  tears  and  kisses.  It  was  one  of  the  saddest  and  most 
solemn  and  impressive  scenes  I  ever  witnessed,  to  see 
scores  of  these  descendants  of  Abraham  with  tears  rolling 
down  their  cheeks,  and  lips  trembling  with  emotion,  a 
book  of  Psalms  open  before  them  bewailing  the  ruin  of 
the  ancient  temple  and  the  captivity  of  their  race,  and 
crying  to  God  Jehovah  for  the  restoration  of  the  temple 
in  all  its  original  splendor.  I  am  sure  that  God  will 
answer  their  prayer  just  as  soon  as  they  accept  the 
Messiah,  which  they  are  doing  by  the  thousands.  I  think 
their  prayer  will  bring  Jerusalem  back  in  all  its  glory, 
it  may  not  be  in  precious  stones  and  architectural  majesty, 
but  in  a  moral  splendor  which  shall  eclipse,  forever,  all 
that  David  and  Solomon  saw. 

Just  outside  the  gate  is  where  some  of  the  most  severe 
conflicts  in  Jewish  history  were  fought.  Here  it  was  that 
the  Apostle  Paul  was  rescued  by  Roman  soldiers  from  a 
mob  of  infuriated  Jews.  This  is  the  place  of  all  places. 
Here  I  stood  and  asked,  "0  Lord  God  reveal  to  me  the 
grandeur  of  the  City"  for  there  are  some  things  you  can 
see  more  vividly  with  no  one  but  God  and  yourself  present. 

From  this  place  there  is  a  beautiful  view  over  Kedron 
and  Olivet.  Near  the  wall,  by  a  pair  of  stairs,  one 
descends  to  the  stables  of  Solomon.  They  are  kept  clean 
and  neat  and  not  used  for  anything.  It  gives  the  impres- 
sion of  being  a  great  subterranean  cathedral  with  over  a 

73 


hundred  and  fifty  massive  columns.  You  can  see  where 
the  horses  were  tied  by  halters  drawn  through  holes  in 
the  mangers  which  are  worn  smooth,  as  all  are  made 
of  rocks.  Coming  up  from  this  large  and  well  arranged 
stable,  I  came  out  at  the  temple  area.  My  first  words 
were,  "0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  City  of  God,  Joy  of  the 
whole  earth."  We  Jews  that  are  circumcised  at  heart 
will  redeem  Jerusalem  and  all  nations  will  flock  to  it. 
But  one  can  shut  his  eyes  and  can  hear  the  crash  of  the 
twenty-three  sieges  which  have  come  against  Jerusalem 
in  the  ages  past.  But  in  the  twenty-fourth  siege,  my  dear 
reader,  you  will  be  a  soldier.  In  that  warfare  we  will 
beat  all  war  weapons  into  plowshares  and  pruning  hooks, 
not  weapons  of  death  but  only  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 
This  is  the  war  we  are  engaged  in  in  the  twentieth  century. 
This  is  the  War  of  Peace.  When  Jerusalem  shall  purify 
herself  and  take  back  the  Christ  she  once  cast  out,  then 
it  will  be  a  type  of  that  Heavenly  City  which  Paul  styled 
the  ''Mother  of  us  all."  When  this  temple  is  completed, 
here  on  earth,  then  we  will  all  march  to  that  Jerusalem 
where  there  will  be  no  more  discord,  but  all  harmony, 
and  when  this  temple  is  built  without  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens,  and  Jesus  Christ  the  cornerstone.  When  we 
acknowledge  Christ  in  the  flesh  as  the  cornerstone,  then 
we  will  go  into  the  large  upper  room  (Luke  22:12-13) 
where  the  disciples  made  ready  the  Passover  and  wrhere 
they  ate  and  drank  with  their  Master  for  the  last  time. 
We  were  shown  the  chamber  in  which  the  Apostles  are 
traditionally  reported  to  have  been  assembled  when  they 

74 


received  the  gift  of  tongues.  When  being  all  with  one 
accord  in  one  place,  suddenly  there  came  a  sound  from 
heaven  as  of  a  rushing,  mighty  wind,  and  filled  all  the 
house  where  they  were  sitting;  and  there  appeared  unto 
them  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire  and  it  sat  upon  each 
of  them  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
began  to  speak  with  other  tongues  as  the  Spirit  gave 
them  -utterance.  (Acts  2 : 1-4.) 

About  this  time  at  a  gathering  of  the  brethren,  Peter 
rose  to  speak,  the  number  present  being  about  a  hundred 
and  twenty,  and  said  that  the  prediction  of  scripture  had 
to  be  fulfilled,  which  the  Holy  Spirit  made  by  the  lips  of 
David,  about  Judas  who  acted  as  guide  to  arrest  Jesus. 
This  man  had  bought  a  piece  of  land  with  the  payment 
for  his  treachery  and  falling  from  a  height  his  body  burst 
open  and  all  his  bowels  protruded.  This  was  known  to 
all  in  Jerusalem,  so  the  field  got  its  name,  "Aceldama," 
which  means,  "blood  field." 

All  around  me  are  holy  sites  which  are  connected  with 
our  Lord's  passion  and  death.  Here  is  the  "Stone  of 
Unction"  where  his  body  was  laid  for  the  anointing,  and 
you  can  see  devout  Russian  pilgrims  covering  it  with  kisses 
and  measuring  it,  that  their  winding  sheet  may  be  made 
the  same  size.  Here  is  the  "Chapel  of  the  Parted  Rai- 
ment," marking  the  place  where  his  garments  were 
gambled  for.  That  spot  just  beyond  was  where  they 
crowned  him  with  thorns.  Here  is  the  place  where  they 
scourged  him ;  here  is  where  they  nailed  him  to  the  cross ; 
and  there  is  the  very  rock  where  the  cross  stood  with 

75 


the  actual  cavity  in  which  it  rested.  A  few  feet  away 
is  a  rock  cleft,  so  they  tell  you,  which  is  the  very  center 
of  the  earth.  This  is  the  plage  where  the  Roman  centurion 
stood  who  said,  "This  is  the  Son  of  God."  And  here  is 
the  spot  where  Jesus  appeared  to  Mary  Magdalene  after 
his  resurrection. 

Down  a  stairway  of  thirty-five  steps  you  can  go  to 
the  Chapel  of  St.  Helena,  where  the  mother  of  Constantine 
sat  while  the  work  of  finding  the  crosses  went  on.  So 
tradition  says,  three  crosses  were  found.  Not  knowing 
which  was  the  true  cross,  one  was  taken  to  the  presence 
of  a  sick  woman.  It  proved  to  be  the  cross  of  a  thief  and 
because  of  that  she  became  a  maniac.  The  second  cross 
was  brought  to  her  and  she  was  thrown  into  fits.  The 
third  cross  was  brought  to  her  and  she  was  immediately 
restored,  and  thus  the  true  cross  was  identified. 

When  I  read  the  account  of  the  crucifixion  the  Old 
Bible  became  a  new  Bible  to  me.  I  stood  where  I  could 
look  over  at  the  dome  of  the  rock  where  once  stood  the 
Temple  of  Solomon.  I  remembered  in  olden  days  that  the 
priest  put  his  hand  upon  the  head  of  the  goat,  confessing 
the  sins  of  the  people,  and  then  by  the  hand  of  a  fit  person 
sent  that  goat  into  the  wilderness,  bearing  the  iniquities 
of  the  Children  of  Israel.  And  my  eyes  filled  with  tears 
when  I  read,  "All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray.  We 
have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way,  and  the  Lord  has 
laid  upon  the  iniquities  of  us  all." 

The  Pool  of  Bethesda  is  just  outside  of  the  north  wall 
of  the  temple  area.  It  is  370  x  125  feet  with  a  depth  of 

76 


sixty-five  feet.  Bethesda  means  " House  of  Mercy."  This 
is  the  pool  where  the  miracle  was  wrought  (John  5:2)  by 
the  Sheep  market,  a  pool  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  Bethesda.  Here  lay  a  great  multitude  waiting  for 
the  moving  of  the  water,  and  a  certain  man  was  there  38 
years  and  could  not  get  in  for  the  press.  Jesus  saw  him 
and  said  unto  him,  "Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk," 
and  he  did  walk.  It  was  on  the  Sabbath  Day  and  the 
Jews  said,  "What  man  is  that  that  told  you  to  walk?" 
The  man  answered  it  was  Jesus,  and  the  Jews  sought  to 
slay  him  because  he  had  done  this  on  the  Sabbath  Day. 

Close  by  the  pool  is  Mary's  Well  or  fountain.  This 
fountain  has  at  various  times  gone  by  other  names,  but 
acquired  its  present  name  after  the  death  of  Mary,  the 
Mother  of  Jesus.  She  being  accused  of  unchastity,  drank 
of  its  waters  which  had  from  time  immemorial  been  used 
as  a  test  of  feminine  innocence  or  guilt,  and  thus  estab- 
lished her  innocence.  Up  to  that  time  it  had  been  called 
the  fountain  of  accused  women,  of  which  the  innocent 
drank  unharmed,  but  which  was  death  to  the  guilty. 
Mary  is  said  to  have  washed  the  clothes  of  the  child  Jesus 
in  it,  and  since  then  it  has  become  a  favorite  bath  with  the 
women  of  the  neighborhood.  It  is  identical  with  the  lower 
Pool  of  Gihon  formed  by  King  Hezekiah  (II  Chron. 
32 :  30).  At  the  water  gate,  the  spring  is  within  a  cave  25 
feet  deep,  whence  it  flows  twice  daily  in  the  summer,  once 
daily  in  the  autumn,  and  from  three  to  five  times  a  day 
in  the  winter.  The  explanation  given  for  this  phenomena 
is  that  a  dragon  dwells  in  the  unexplored  cavern  to  which 

77 


a  passage,  visible  inside  the  outer  cave,  is  supposed  to 
lead.  This  dragon,  say  the  Arabs,  manages  to  secure  a 
monopoly  of  the  water  for  his  own  consumption  while  he 
is  awake,  but  when  he  sleeps,  as  luckily  even  dragons  must 
at  times,  the  spring  flows  on  again.  This  tradition  must 
be  ancient,  for  Prophet  (Nehemiah  2:13)  mentions  the 
dragon  well  in  connection  with  the  dung  port  which  is 
still  almost  directly  above  the  fountain.  The  water  has 
a  peculiar  taste. 

Outside  the  city  is  the  Upper  Pool  of  Siloam  (John 
9:7),  where  Jesus  sent  the  man,  blind  from  his  birth,  to 
wash  after  he  had  anointed  his  eyes  with  clay.  From  this 
point  a  path  leads  to  the  wall  around  to  the  right  to  the 
dung  gate,  and  from  there  southeast  to  the  Haram,  and 
on  the  left  the  Gate  of  Zion. 

The  Lower  Pool  of  Siloam  lies  inside  the  remains  of 
an  ancient  wall  of  Jerusalem,  one  of  the  walls  alluded  to 
in  Isaiah  22 : 11.  A  little  south  of  this  pool  you  will  see 
an  old  tree  surrounded  and  propped  up  with  stones,  which 
marks  the  spot  where  the  Prophet  Isaiah  is  said  to  have 
been  sawn  asunder  in  the  presence  of  King  Manassah. 

Just  within  the  Aksa  Mosque  is  shown  a  cistern  called 
"Birel  Warka"— "  Well  of  the  Leaf  "—in  memory  of  an 
adventure  which  befell  a  friend  and  companion  of  the 
Khalif  Omar. 

Beneath  the  pavement  here  are  spacious  ancient  reser- 
voirs supplied  with  water  from  Solomon's  Pool  beyond 
Bethlehem,  by  aqueducts  still  existing.  A  friend  of  Omar 
happened  to  let  his  pitcher  fall  into  the  cistern  below,  and 

78 


descending  to  recover  it  he  found  a  gate  which  opened 
into  an  unknown  garden  where  he  plucked  a  leaf  which 
never  faded,  for  it  was  a  leaf  from  Paradise.  Other  men 
have  since  gone  down  in  hopes  of  plucking  a  leaf  or  flower 
from  Paradise  that  should  not  fade,  but  none  have  ever 
found  again  that  garden  gate. 

Here  we  see  huge  stones  of  the  oldest  Jewish  Period, 
and  parts  of  the  city  wall  enclosing  the  Haram  show,  as 
seen  from  without  a  very  massive  Hebrew  masonry,  be- 
lieved to  be  coeval  with  Solomon ;  but  it  is  thought  that 
if  excavations  were  permitted,  even  more  extensive  and 
ancient  remains  would  be  found. 

On  ascending  some  steps  near  here,  to  get  a  view  from 
the  top  of  the  wall,  we  notice  the  protruding  section  of  a 
column  built  into  the  wall  horizontally.  The  column  can 
be  seen  also  from  outside ;  and  to  it,  according  to  Moham- 
medan tradition,  a  rope,  fine  and  slender  like  a  hair  of 
steel  wire,  will  be  fastened  at  the  last  day,  stretching 
over  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  from  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
On  this  weak  bridge  the  souls  of  the  good  from  the  myriad 
tombs  on  the  side  of  the  Mount  will  cross  over  safely  to 
enter  Paradise,  while  the  bad  will  fall  midway  into  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  where  the  mouth  of  hell  will  gape 
wide  for  them. 

Close  by  is  a  domed  canopy,  covering  the  traditional 
site  of  the  throne  of  Solomon,  where  he  delivered  his 
judgments  and  where  he  was  found  dead.  In  order  to 
conceal  his  death  from  his  slaves,  the  genii,  that  they 
might  finish  the  work  he  had  set  them  to  do,  when  dying 

79 


he  propped  himself  up  on  his  seat  with  his  cane,  and  only 
when  the  worms  had  gnawed  it  through  and  the  body 
fell,  did  the  demons  realize  that  they  were  at  last  released 
from  their  bondage  to  the  Royal  King.  Threads  of  gar- 
ments of  pilgrims  are  fastened  upon  the  gratings  of  the 
window. 

Mohammet  venerated  the  site  of  Solomon's  Temple, 
and  unbelievers  have  not  been  allowed  to  enter  the  en- 
closure of  the  Haram  until  of  late  years.  Permission  to 
visit  the  Haram  must  be  obtained  through  the  Consulate 
of  the  visitor,  and  the  fee  varies  according  to  the  number 
of  persons  in  the  party.  A  sunny  day  should  be  chosen 
for  all  such  visits,  that  the  dark  interior  of  many  of  these 
interesting  and  beautiful  places  may  be  better  seen. 

Following  a  trail  a  short  distance  outside  the  city  we 
come  to  a  slight  elevation  which  is  named  "The  Mount  of 
Evil  Counsel,"  so-called  from  ancient  days  in  the  time  of 
Jeremiah,  who  says  of  it  (19:  7),  "And  I  will  make  void 
the  counsel  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  in  this  place."  It  is 
also  called  "Field  of  Blood"  or  Aceldama,  being  the  field 
said  to  have  been  bought  with  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver 
paid  to  Judas  for  betraying  his  Lord  and  Master.  Here 
also,  tradition  says,  Judas  hanged  himself  from  a  tree 
which  is  still  pointed  out  to  pilgrims. 

On  the  side  of  this  hill,  sloping  to  the  Valley  of  Hin- 
nom,  are  extensive  tombs.  Some  of  the  low  entrances  to 
these  tombs  have  stone  doors,  and  from  the  early  Chris- 
tian Period  were  occupied  as  hermitages  by  devout  men. 
Some  of  the  chambers  are  richly  sculptured,  and  some 

80 


adorned  with  the  carved  monograms  of  Jesus  with  crosses 
and  other  devices,  while  others  have  pictures  in  fresco, 
and  some  still  contain  bones.  The  Apostles  are  supposed 
to  have  concealed  themselves  in  one  of  these  caverns  when 
their  Master  was  imprisoned  in  the  House  of  Caiaphas,  the 
High  Priest,  which  stood  opposite.  It  receives  its  name 
from  the  tradition,  that  here  at  his  residence,  Caiaphas 
made  the  agreement  with  Judas  by  which  he  was  to  betray 
his  Lord  and  Master  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 


81 


CHAPTER  V. 


MOUNT  OF  OLIVES  AND  BETHLEHEM. 

Mt.  of  Olives  is  a  long  range  of  mountains,  2,600  feet 
above  the  sea,  east  of  Jerusalem,  commanding  a  fine 
view  of  the  Jordan  Valley  (II  Sam.  15:30;  Matt.  21:1). 
When  Jesus  drew  near  to  Bethpage  on  Mt.  of  Olives,  he 
sent  two  of  his  disciples  into  the  village.  "You  shall  find 
an  ass  with  a  colt;  loose  them  and  bring  them  unto 
me."  Here  at  Bethpage  is  the  very  stone  from  which 
our  Saviour  mounted  the  ass.  This  stone  was  discovered 
during  the  excavations  now  under  progress.  Here  is 
where  Jesus  wept  over  Jerusalem,  and  here,  on  this  rock, 
is  where  he  descended  and  left  his  tracks  in  this  solid 
rock  just  as  one  would  in  mud.  I  measured  the  track.  It 
was  a  No.  7  shoe,  after  our  custom  of  measurement. 

"What,"  said  my  friend,  "about  these  tracks,  and 
the  tracks  the  cock  left  when  Peter  denied  our  Lord?" 

"The  tracks  our  Lord  and  Master  left  behind,  when 
he  made  his  ascension,  was  to  show  the  unbelieving  Jews 
that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and  still  they  rejected  him.  And 
in  regard  to  the  tracks  of  the  cock,  when  Peter  denied 
him,  there  are  signs  following.  I  accept  it,  for  all  power 
in  heaven  and  earth  was  given  him.  The  same  thing 

82 


DQ      WrH 

H    >e<1 


ss 


occurred  in  the  fig  tree.  Jesus  being  hungry,  seeing  a  fig 
tree  afar  off  came  to  the  tree  and  finding  nothing  but 
leaves,  said  unto  the  tree,  'No  man  shall  eat  fruit  of 
thee  hereafter  forever.'  And  in  the  morning  they  saw 
the  fig  tree  dried  up  from  its  roots.  Peter  called  the 
Master's  attention  to  it." 

The  fig  tree  is  very  useful  in  Palestine.  It  is  the 
first  tree  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  (Gen.  3:7.)  And  their 
eyes  were  opened  and  they  sewed  fig  leaves  together  and 
made  aprons.  It  has  been  cultivated  for  its  fruit  which 
in  most  warm  countries  forms  an  essential  portion  of  the 
food  of  the  inhabitants,  either  in  a  fresh  or  a  dried  state.  . 
The  fig  tree  lives  to  a  great  age.  It  puts  forth  its  fruiting 
stems  before  its  leaf  buds  expand  ,and  these  green  figs 
remain  through  the  winter.  Cakes  of  dried  and  pressed 
figs  were  and  are  still  used  as  an  article  of  food,  and  all 
Israel  dwelt  safely  under  his  fig  tree  from  Dan  to  Beer- 
sheba,  all  the  days  of  Solomon.  ''For  every  man  shall 
sit  under  his  fig  tree  and  none  shall  make  him  afraid;" 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  has  spoken  it. 

From  Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem,  the  road  runs  down 
from  the  Joppa  Gate,  crosses  the  upper  Valley  of  Hinnom 
below  the  range  of  almshouses  built  for  poor  Jews  by 
the  late  Sir  Moses  Montefere  of  England,  leaving  the  Hill 
of  Evil  Counsel  to  the  left,  here  to  the  right  we  pass  a 
neat,  clean  village,  built  and  inhabited  by  the  German 
Templars.  The  road  passes  the  Valley  of  Pehhaim  on 
the  right,  where  David  fought  twice  with  the  Philistines 
and  conquered  them,  the  signal  for  the  battle  being  given 

83 


the  second  time  by  the  sound  of  a  gong  in  the  top  of 
the  mulberry  trees  which  should  betoken  the  presence 
of  the  Lord.  (II  Sam.  5  : 18-25.) 

The  Valley  of  Giants  is  on  the  left  (Josh.  18 : 16)  and 
the  well  in  which,  when  quenching  their  thirst,  the  Wise 
Men  from  the  east,  beheld  once  more  reflected  in  its 
waters,  to  their  exceeding  great  joy,  the  Star  which 
had  led  them  to  Jerusalem  in  search  of  the  newly  born 
King  of  the  Jews,  that  they  might  worship  him.  (Mat. 
2 : 1-12.)  From  the  hill  about  it  can  be  seen  at  the  same 
time,  both  the  City  of  the  Great  King,  and  the  City  of 
David.  To  the  north  lies  Jerusalem,  and  the  Mount  of 
Olives  surmounted  by  a  Russian  bell  tower.  Beyond,  to 
the  north  and  east,  are  the  Mountains  of  Moab  and  the 
Dead  Sea,  while  to  the  south  is  Bethlehem,  built  high  on 
a  ridge  around  a  fertile  valley,  and  the  old  town  of  Giloh 
where  dwelt  the  Gilonites,  David's  counselors  (II  Sam. 
15:12). 

Near  this  is  "the  field  of  Peas."  Jesus  passed  by,  to 
or  from  Bethlehem  no  doubt,  and  saw  a  Jew  sowing  peas. 
Jesus  asked  the  man  what  he  was  doing.  The  man 
answered,  "I  am  sowing  stones,"  and  from  that  day  to 
this  whatever  seed  might  be  sown  there,  this  field  pro- 
duced only  stones,  and  stones  similar  to  peas  may  be 
seen  all  over  the  field.  Here  is  the  scripture  fulfilled, 
whatsoever  you  sow,  so  you  reap. 

David's  well  is  to  the  left  of  the  road  as  it  enters  the 
town  of  Bethlehem.  It  is  called  David's  well  in  II  Sam. 
23-14-17.  When  the  Philistines  were  in  possession  of  the 

84 


town,  and  David  was  hidden  in  a  hole  in  or  near  the  Cave 
of  Adullam,  he  longed  and  said,  "Oh,  that  one  would  give 
me  to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  Well  of  Bethlehem  which 
is  by  the  gate,"  and  three  mighty  men  broke  through 
the  hosts  of  the  Philistines  and  drew  water  out  of  the 
well  of  Bethlehem  that  was  by  the  gate,  and  took  it  and 
brought  it  to  David.  He  would  not  drink  it  but  poured 
it  out  unto  the  Lord.  "Is  this  not  the  blood  of  the  men 
that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives?"  From  the  well,  a 
splendid  view  of  the  whole  town  is  to  be  had,  and  this 
place  is  held  sacred  by  all  sects  of  Christians,  as  being 
traditionally  connected  with  the  birth  of  Jesus  our  Lord. 
Bethlehem  is  the  market  of  the  Dead  Sea  Bedouins,  and 
also  of  the  numerous  small  towns  and  villages  in  the 
vicinity,  and  it  has,  besides,  various  flourishing  industries 
of  its  own,  as  for  example,  production  of  the  embroidered 
dresses  and  the  large  industry  of  the  carving  of  mother- 
of-pearl,  which  are  carried  on  to  perfection.  The  educa- 
tion of  the  people  is  well  provided  for  by  eight  good 
schools,  German,  Protestant  and  English.  The  people  of 
Bethlehem  look  happy,  and  they  show  their  progressive- 
ness  by  the  manufacture  of  artistic  souvenirs  made  from 
shells  and  olive  wood.  The  shops  are  well  worth  a  visit. 
Bethlehem  means  "House  of  Bread."  In  history,  it 
is  associated  with  the  lovely  romance  of  Ruth,  and  was 
the  home  of  David  and  the  birthplace  of  Joab,  but  it  is 
pre-eminent,  from  the  fact  that  here  was  born  the  Saviour 
of  the  World.  There  is  no  question  that  Bethlehem  was 
the  birthplace  of  our  Lord.  We  have  assurance  of  the 

85 


exact  site.  John  speaks  of  the  birth  occurring  in  a  cer- 
tain cave,  close  to  Bethlehem.  Here  also  David  was 
anointed  King,  by  the  Prophet  Samuel,  at  the  Lord's  com- 
mand, when  he  had  rejected  Saul  from  reigning  over 
Israel.  I  Sam.  16  : 1-13)  after  which  Bethlehem  was  called 
the  "City  of  David."  (Luke  2:4.)  This  place  was  also 
the  scene  of  the  interesting  story  of  Ruth  and  Naomi, 
which  the  traveler  is  advised  to  re-read  before  or  after  his 
visit.  Boaz  married  Ruth  as  directed  by  the  law  (Deut. 
25 :  5) .  He  was  a  pure  and  high-minded  man,  fearing 
the  Lord  and  keeping  his  obligations  among  men.  It  was 
in  this  vicinity,  Ruth  the  Moabitess  gleaned  among  the 
sheaves. 

Near  the  spot  where  the  "Wise  Men"  knelt  is  the 
Women's  Grotto  in  which  Joseph,  Mary  and  the  Babe,  are 
said  to  have  once  found  shelter  and  concealment,  is  here 
found.  A  drop  of  the  Virgin  Mother's  milk,  as  she  was 
giving  suck  to  the  Holy  Child,  fell,  it  is  said,  to  the  floor 
of  the  cave,  ever  since  which,  as  both  Moslems  and  Chris- 
tians believe,  the  dust  here  possesses  the  miraculous 
property  of  increasing  the  flow  of  mothers'  milk.  Here 
women  from  all  parts  resort  to  buy  cakes  which  are 
sprinkled  with  this  dust. 

Here  the  road  leads  to  a  grassy  plain  called  the  "Field 
of  the  Shepherds,"  making  its  surroundings  a  pleasant 
picture  which  helps  the  imagination  to  realize  the  scene 
described  in  Luke  2 : 8-16.  To  the  Shepherds  abiding  in 
the  field,  keeping  watch  over  their  flock  by  night,  ap- 
peared the  angel  of  the  Lord  bringing  good  tidings  of 

86 


great  joy  which  shall  be  unto  all  the  people,  for  unto  you 
is  born  this  day,  in  the  City  of  David,  a  Saviour  which  is 
Christ  the  Lord.  And  suddenly,  there  was  with  the  angels 
a  multitude  of  heavenly  host,  praising  God  and  saying, 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest,  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
toward  men." 

Ain  Karim  is  the  traditional  birthplace  of  John  the 
Baptist.  The  road  leads  over  the  Jebel  Ali  (Mountain) 
and  gives  the-  traveler  grand  views  of  the  Wilderness  of 
Judea.  Here  at  Ain  Karim,  according  to  tradition,  dwelt 
Zacharias  the  Priest,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  in  whose 
house  the  Virgin  Mary  abode  about  three  months  and 
sang  her  beautiful  song,  and  where  Elizabeth,  being 
well  stricken  in  years  brought  forth  a  son  in  fulfillment 
of  the  promise  of  Gabriel,  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  (Luke 
1:5-80).  For  hundreds  of  years  the  Convent  Church 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  was  used  by  the  Arabs  to  stable 
their  horses  and  donkeys.  A  French  Embassador  of  King 
Louis  IV  persuaded  the  Sultan  to  give  it  to  the  French 
who  forthwith  cleansed  it  and  restored  it,  making  it  one 
of  the  finest  modern  churches  in  Palestine. 

Distance  is  reckoned  by  minutes,  hours  and  days,  in 
Palestine.  In  the  city  of  Jericho  I  wished  to  find  the 
post-office,  and  asked  a  man  the  distance  and  direction. 
"Two  minutes,  north,"  said  he.  After  walking  what  I 
took  to  be  more  than  three  minutes,  I  asked  another  man 
and  he  told  me  that  I  had  yet  one  minute  to  go.  I  walked 
on  more  than  two  minutes  before  I  reached  the  post-office, 
in  all  I  must  have  been  five  minutes  on  the  way. 

87 


It  takes  fifty  minutes  to  reach  the  Valley  of  Roses  from 
which  Ain  Yalo  is  gained  in  twenty  more.  It  is  a  planta- 
tion of  rose  trees  which  are  cultivated  for  distilling  of 
rose  water  much  used  in  the  east  to  flavor  cooling  drinks. 
After  passing  by  the  roses,  the  way  leads  through  olive 
gardens,  vineyards  and  cornfields,  until  we  reach  the 
fountain  of  Yalo  on  the  ancient  road  to  Gaza. 

Gaza  is  the  last  town  in  the  southwest  of  Palestine  on 
the  coast  toward  Egypt,  on  the  high  road  between  Egypt 
and  Syria,  mentioned  in  Gen.  10 : 19.  It  is  one  of  the 
oldest  cities  in  the  world.  Joshua  could  not  subdue  it. 
"And  Joshua  smote  them  from  Gaza  even  unto  Gibeon." 
Here  Samson  carried  off  their  gates.  Samson  came  to  the 
city  Gaza  and  the  people  of  the  town  said,  "In  the  morn- 
ing we  will  kill  him. ' '  And  Samson  lay  hidden  until  mid- 
night and  took  the  doors  off  the  gate  of  the  city  and  the 
two  posts,  and  went  away  with  them  to  the  top  of  the 
hill  which  is  before  Hebron.  The  Ethiopian  was  baptized 
by  Philip  on  the  way  to  Gaza.  There  are  good  wells  of 
water,  orchards  of  varieties  of  fruit,  palm  trees  and  olive 
groves. 


88 


RIVER    JORDAN. 

Near  the  supposed  place  of  the  baptism  of  Jesus   (Matt.  3:  13;  Mark 

19th  chapter;  Luke  3:  16),  showing-  two  banks  covered  with 

rushes  and  higher  clay  banks   (Josh.   3:  16) 

undermined  in  the  rainy  season. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


JOKDAN   AND  JERICHO. 

On  Jordan's  stormy  banks  I  stand, 

And  cast  a  wishful  eye 
To  Canaan's  fair  and  happy  land, 

Where  my  possessions  lie. 

Oh,  the  transporting  rapturous  scenes 

That  rises  to  my  sight; 
Sweet  fields  arrayed  in  living  green, 

And  rivers  of  delight. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  excursions  which  may  be 
made  from  Jerusalem,  is  that  to  Jericho,  the  Dead  Sea 
and  Jordan.  It  is  a  hard  trip  unless  the  traveler  is  pretty 
well  seasoned  to  fatigue.  We  slept  at  Jericho  where  there 
are  good  hotels,  and  spent  a  delightful  day  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan. 

The  route  follows  the  main  and  ancient  road  around 
the  base  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  to  Bethany,  where  dwelt 
the  family  of  Lazarus,  the  friend  of  Jesus,  thence  down 
to  the  waters  of  Enshemesh  mentioned  in  Josh.  15  :  7.  This 
is  the  only  drinkable  water  on  the  road  between  Jeru- 
salem and  Jericho,  as  that  at  the  inn  at  the  midway  is 
very  bad.  Enshemesh — ''Spring  of  the  Sun" — is  a  land- 
mark on  the  north  of  Judah,  the  only  spring  now  known 

89 


east  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.  It  is  also  the  Spring  of  the 
Apostles,  so-called  because  it  is  supposed  that  Jesus  and 
his  apostles  rested  there  often,  about  one  mile  east  of 
Bethany.  The  sun  shines  on  the  spring  all  day,  hence  the 
name  "Spring  of  the  Sun." 

At  the  end  of  the  fourth  hour,  the  scenery  becomes 
very  wild,  among  barren  and  rugged  cliffs  where  the 
brook  Cherith  takes  its  rise.  About  twenty  minutes,  off 
the  main  road,  is  the  cave  where,  by  the  waters  of  the 
brook,  the  prophet  Elijah  dwelt,  "And  the  ravens 
brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in  the  morning  and  bread 
and  flesh  in  the  evening  and  he  drank  of  the  brook," 
according  to  the  command  of  the  Lord.  (I  Kings  17 :  2-6.) 
"Get  thee  hence  by  the  Brook  of  Cherith  that  is  before 
Jordan."  It  is  supposed  that  Thisbe  in  Galilee  was  the 
birthplace  of  Elijah  the  Tishbite  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Gilead.  His  one  grand  object  was  to  awaken  Israel  to 
the  conviction  that  Jehovah,  alone,  is  God.  And  Elijah 
said  unto  Ahab,  "As  Jehovah  God  of  Israel  liveth  before 
whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew  nor  rain  these  years 
but  according  to  my  word."  (I  Kings  17:1.)  The 
Brook  Cherith,  however,  in  course  of  time  dried  up  and 
another  place  of  refuge  had  to  be  provided  for  the 
Prophet.  This  was  found  in  the  house  of  a  poor  widow 
with  an  only  son,  and  she  not  in  the  land  of  Israel,  but 
at  Zarephath  in  the  territory  of  Zidon.  He  found  her 
near  the  gate  of  the  city,  gathering  a  few  sticks  to  pre- 
pare the  last  meal  of  which  she  and  her  son  might  eat  and 
thereafter  die.  And  he  added,  as  the  ground  for  her 

90 


belief  and  for  his  own  demand,  ' '  For  thus  sayeth  Jehovah 
God  of  Israel,  the  barrel  of  meal  shall  not  waste  neither 
shall  the  cruse  of  oil  fail  till  the  day  that  Jehovah  sendeth 
rain  on  the  earth."  On  the  occasion  of  an  illness  be- 
falling her  son,  she  said  to  Elijah,  "What  have  I  to  do 
with  thee  0  thou  man  of  God?  Art  thou  come  unto  me 
to  call  my  sins  to  remembrance  and  to  slay  my  son?" 
Elijah  prayed  to  the  Lord,  "I  pray  thee  let  this  child's 
soul  come  into  him  again."  And  the  child  began  to 
breathe.  She  said,  "Now  by  this  I  know  that  thou  art  a 
man  of  God." 

After  the  third  year  of  Elijah's  sojourn  with  the 
widow,  the  Lord  came  to  him  and  bade  him  go  and  show 
himself  to  Ahab  (I  Kings  18:1)  then  return  to  Carmel. 
Now  the  long  drouth  was  broken  and  a  plentiful  rain 
descended  at  the  Prophet's  prayer. 

Leaving  the  cave  where  Elijah  was  fed  by  the  ravens, 
is  the  Valley  of  Achor,  the  scene  of  the  tremendous  pun- 
ishment of  Achan,  by  Joshua,  for  his  sins,  when  he  took 
"the  accursed  thing"  out  of  Jericho  (Josh.  7:21-26). 
Joshua  said  unto  Achan,  "My  son,  give  glory  to  the  God 
of  Israel.  What  hast  thou  done.  Hide  it  not  from  me." 
And  Achan  answered  and  said,  "I  saw  among  the  spoils 
a  goodly  garment,  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  a  wedge 
of  gold."  And  they  cast  out  Achan  and  all  his  kindred 
and  cattle  and  gold,  silver  and  garments,  and  stoned  them 
to  death  and  burned  them  up,  and  they  raised  over  him 
a  great  heap  of  stones  unto  this  day. 

91 


We  now  come  to  the  Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan. 
Listen  to  a  lesson  of  the  good  Samaritan.  A  certain  man 
went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  fell  among 
thieves  who  stripped  him  of  his  raiment,  and  wounded 
him  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead.  And  by  chance, 
there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that  way  and  when  he 
saw  him  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  And  likewise  a 
Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place  came  and  looked  at  him 
and  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  But  a  certain  Samaritan, 
as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was  and  when  he  saw 
him  he  had  compassion  on  him,  and  went  to  him  and 
bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil  and  wine,  and  set 
him  on  his  own  beast  and  brought  him  to  an  inn  and 
took  care  of  him.  And  on  the  morrow  he  gave  two  pence 
to  the  host  and  said  unto  him,  "Take  care  of  him  and 
whatever  thou  spendest  more  when  I  come  again  I  will 
repay  thee."  Which  now  of  these  three  thinkest  thou 
was  neighbor  unto  him.  And  he  said,  he  that  showed 
mercy  on  him.  Then  Jesus  said,  "Go  and  do  thou  like- 
wise. ' ' 

And  I  say  we  have  plenty  of  priests  and  Levites  but 
not  enough  of  good  Samaritans.  What  a  world  this  would 
be  if  we  all  were  good  Samaritans,  and  all  our  secret 
orders  would  practice  the  good  Samaritan's  spirit.  Now 
dear  reader,  let  us  commence  anew  and  do  what  Jesus 
taught  and  practiced. 

Near  ancient  Jericho  is  Elijah's  Spring,  a  beautiful 
stream  of  pure  cold  water  which  gushes  out  of  the  side 
of  a  hill  in  modern  Judea,  two  feet  deep  and  five  in 

92 


width,  which  waters  the  whole  valley  used  for  irrigation 
and  house  supply.  It  is  carried  in  stone  aqueducts  across 
Brook  Cherith  massive  enough  to  bear  up  a  train  of  cars. 
This  is  the  spring  which  Elijah  healed  from  Salt.  The 
men  said,  "The  city  is  good  but  the  water  is  poor,"  and 
Elijah  healed  the  water  and  it  is  good  and  sweet  to  this 
day. 

When  we  landed  in  Jerusalem,  one  of  our  first  ex- 
peditions was  to  go  down  to  Jericho.  One  of  our  party, 
a  preacher,  said  to  me,  "You  had  better  not  take  this  trip 
which  is  a  hard  one.  You  are  too  old  a  man  to  stand  the 
fatigue. ' '  But  I  assured  him  that  I  was  surely  going  and 
would  keep  up  with  the  best  of  them.  Jericho  is  today 
as  it  was  in  our  Saviour's  time,  a  den  of  robbers.  In  the 
caves  and  rocks  thereabout,  bandits  and  thieves  are  hidden 
and  come  out  to  prey  on  travelers.  The  Turkish  govern- 
ment makes  feeble  efforts  to  suppress  the  brigandage,  but 
with  little  effect.  As  we  were  starting  forth,  the  preacher 
asked  me,  "Have  you  a  revolver?"  "Yes,"  I  replied,  and 
drawing  my  Bible  from  the  breast  pocket  of  my  coat, 
' i  Here  is  my  revolver. ' ' 

"Oh,  that  is  all  right  in  times  of  peace,  but  on  this 
occasion,  a  gun  is  necessary. ' ' 

"My  dear  sir,  in  times  of  peace  we  do  not  need  the 
Bible  as  a  defense,  and  in  times  of  danger  has  not  the 
Lord  promised  to  be  our  strength  and  our  refuge?" 

We  went  safely  to  Jericho,  a  government  escort  being 
furnished  us  and  no  danger  came  anigh.  On  our  return 
we  were  obliged  to  walk  nine  miles  up  hill,  even  the  ladies 

93 


of  the  party  had  to  walk  as  the  way  is  so  steep  that  the 
horses  could  only  drag  the  empty  carriages  along.  I  sur- 
prised my  preacher  friend  and  others,  by  keeping  in  the 
lead  the  entire  distance.  They  called  me  ' '  the  kid. ' '  My 
years  of  tramping  through  the  mountains  of  California 
had  made  the  task  easier  than  it  seemed  to  the  others. 

Jericho,  embowered  in  orchards  and  gardens,  is  called 
the  "City  of  the  Moon."  And  the  Children  of  Israel 
pitched  in  the  Plains  of  Moab  on  this  side  of  Jordan  by 
Jericho.  (Num.  22:1.) 

Jericho  is  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  eight  miles  from  the 
Dead  Sea  and  six  miles  from  Jordan.  When  the  Jews 
crossed  the  Jordan,  Jericho  was  a  large  and  strong  city. 
Its  origin  is  not  recorded.  Since  it  is  not  mentioned  in 
Gen.  13  when  Abraham  and  Lot  looked  over  the  Plain,  it 
must  have  been  built  after  that  time.  It  is  surrounded  by 
palm  trees,  of  which  there  were  many  kind.  (Gen.  34.) 
Moses  went  up  from  the  Plain  of  Moab  of  Nebo  to  the  top 
of  Pisgah  which  is  over  against  Jericho,  and  he  saw  all 
the  land  of  Gilead  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naphtali,  Ephraim 
and  Manassah,  Judah  unto  the  utmost  sea,  and  the  plain 
of  the  Valley  of  Jericho  the  City  of  Palm  trees  unto  Zoar. 
The  Lord  said  to  Moses,  "This  is  the  land.  I  have  caused 
thee  to  see  it  with  thine  eyes  but  thou  shalt  not  go  over 
thither."  So  Moses  died  in  the  land  of  Moab  and  God 
buried  him  over  against  Beth  Peor  but  no  man  knoweth 
where. 

Here  the  writer  could  see  into  the  land  of  Moab  and 
Mount  Pisgah.  Our  field  glasses  came  in  good  use. 

94 


Reader,  if  you  ever  make  a  trip  to  the  Holy  Land,  get  the 
best  binocular  Zeiss  German,  as  you  will  have  use  for 
them  every  day. 

The  Valley  of  Jericho  is  thickly  dotted  about  with 
pleasure  gardens,  besides  balsam  figs,  rose  plants,  cypress 
and  almond  trees.  Josephus  says  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
light  on  any  climate  in  the  habitable  earth  that  can  well 
be  compared  to  it.  It  was  the  first  city  west  of  Jordan 
taken  by  the  Israelites.  Joshua  cursed  the  city  (Josh. 
6:26),  and  the  curse  was  fulfilled  in  the  person  of  Kiel 
the  Bethelite  (I  Kings  16:34),  and  the  ancient  Jericho 
has  not  been  rebuilt  to  this  day,  to  remain,  for  cursed  is 
the  man  that  will  rebuild  it. 

Modern  Jericho  is  about  two  miles  from  the  site  of 
ancient  Jericho.  There  are  extensive  ruins  on  both  sides 
of  the  Brook  Cherith.  The  city  of  the  New  Testament  was 
on  the  banks  of  Wady  Kelt  on  the  direct  route  from 
Perea  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  visited  several  times  by  Jesus. 
Approaching  it  he  cured  the  blind  man.  (Luke  18:35.) 
Here  in  the  house  of  Zaccheus  in  a  garden  in  the  suburbs, 
he  related  the  parable  of  the  ten  pounds.  And  behold 
there  was  a  man  named  Zaccheus  which  was  the  chief 
among  the  publicans  and  he  was  rich.  He  was  very  small 
in  statute  and  he  climbed  up  in  a  sycamore  tree,  and  when 
Jesus  came  to  the  place,  looking  up,  "Zaccheus,  come 
down.  I  must  abide  at  your  house  this  day."  And  he 
came  down  and  received  him  joyfully.  And  they  all  mur- 
mured, saying,  "He  was  gone  to  be  a  guest  with  a  man 
that  is  a  sinner."  And  he  said  unto  the  Lord,  "Behold, 

95 


Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor,  and  if  I 
have  taken  anything  from  any  man  falsely,  I  restore  him 
fourfold."  Jesus  said,  "This  day  is  salvation  come  to 
this  house." 

There  are  specimen  of  the  sycamore  tree,  but  it  has  no 
relationship  to  the  sycamore  of  this  country.  It  grows  to 
a  considerable  size,  is  evergreen,  and  bears  fruit.  The 
fruit  is  small  and  sweetish.  It  abounds  in  Egypt  and  parts 
of  Palestine.  Its  leaves  are  heart-shaped.  The  fruit  grows 
from  the  trunk  itself  on  little  sprigs,  in  clusters  like  the 
grape.  The  wood  is  very  durable.  Mummy  coffins  made 
of  it  are  still  sound.  The  trees  are  held  in  great  value. 

The  Jordan  is  the  largest  river  in  Palestine.  .  It  rises 
in  Mt.  Hermon  and  empties  into  the  Dead  Sea,  Majestic 
Hermon,  whose  melting  snows  supply  the  Jordan.  From 
Mt.  Hermon,  the  water  passes  south  into  Lake  Huleh,  and 
flowing  west  from  its  south  angle,  tumbles  down  a  rocky 
ravine  with  cliffs  on  each  side  sinking  seven  hundred  feet 
in  nine  miles,  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  From  the  south  of 
this  Sea,  the  Jordan  flows,  sinking  six  hundred  feet  in 
sixty  miles,  in  a  straight  line,  but  making  two  hundred 
miles  by  its  windings  to  the  Dead  Sea.  The  surface  is 
about  1300  feet  below  sea  level.  The  swift  stream  slips 
along  noiselessly  between  its  sandy  banks.  From  the 
head  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  is  over  3000  feet  of  a 
decline. 

Here  a  number  of  Bible  associations  come  to  mind  as 
we  stand  at  the  ford.  There  returns  a  vision  of  the  great 
hosts  of  Israel,  and  Elijah  and  Elisha  passing  through  on 

96 


dry  land.  At  this  ford  was  the  baptism  of  Jesus  by  John. 
At  the  present  time,  pilgrims  attach  great  importance  to 
baptisms  and  baths,  especially  during  the  week  after 
Easter.  Two  of  our  party  were  baptized.  All  are  clothed 
in  white  garments  as  they  wade  into  the  stream,  and  these 
garments  are  carefully  kept  for  burial  garments.  Here 
pilgrims  take  cans  and  bottles  of  water  to  carry  away  with 
them. 

Here  at  Jordan  is  where  the  Children  of  Israel  crossed 
over  on  dry  ground.  And  Joshua  said,  Pass  over  before 
the  Ark  of  the  Lord,  and  every  man  take  a  stone  for  the 
twelve  tribes,  that  they  may  be  a  sign  among  you  and 
your  children  forever  (Josh.  4). 

And  Elijah  took  his  mantle  and  wrapped  it  together 
and  smote  the  waters  and  they  were  divided  hither  and 
thither  so  that  they  two  went  over  on  dry  ground.  And 
Elisha  asked  Elijah  for  a  double  portion  of  his  spirit  to 
rest  on  him.  Elijah  answered,  "You  have  asked  a  hard 
thing."  And  Elisha  took  the  mantle  that  fell  from 
Elijah  and  smote  the  waters  and  they  parted  as  they  did 
for  Elijah.  (II  Kings  2.) 

About  two  miles  from  here  is  Gilgal,  near  Jericho, 
which  was  the  first  encampment  of  the  Israelites  in  Pales- 
tine where  they  set  up  twelve  stones  as  a  memorial  of  the 
passage  of  the  Jordan.  It  is  an  ancient  city.  (Deut. 
11:30.)  It  was  for  centuries  the  great  place  of  the 
nation's  assembly.  The  tabernacle  was  pitched  here  until 
it  was  removed  to  Shiloh.  It  was  visited  by  Samuel,  Saul 
and  David.  There  was  a  high  place  for  idolaters..  (Hosea 

97 


4:15.)  As  prophesied,  the  place  is  desolate,  only  a  few 
stones  and  a  palm  tree  mark  the  spot.  Elijah  went  with 
Elisha  from  Gilgal,  to  Bethel,  about  six  miles,  where  Jacob 
had  his  dream. 

Not  far  from  Gilgal  we  come  to  an  ancient  mosque 
called  Nebby  Moussa,  sacred  to  the  prophet  Moses,  wither 
devout  Moslems  resort  in  large  numbers  at  Easter  time, 
bearing  in  stately  procession  a  certain  most  holy  banner 
from  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  whose  departure  from  Jeru- 
salem and  return  thither,  is  honored  by  the  attendance  in 
state  of  the  governor  and  his  suite  of  notables,  with  a 
large  military  escort.  This  great  function  at  Eastertide 
has  been  arranged,  it  is  believed,  to  occupy  and  amuse 
the  faithful  during  the  church  ceremonies  of  the  Christian 
festival  at  that  season,  and  owes  its  origin  to  the  shrewd 
policy  of  the  Turkish  Government  in  having  a  large  body 
of  Mohammedans  at  hand  ready  to  move  upon  Jerusalem 
at  a  moment's  notice  should  occasion  require,  and  yet 
without  any  of  the  excitement  which  would  be  caused  by 
the  formal  calling  out  of  the  military  reserve.  The 
beggars  young,  middle  aged,  old  women,  children  and  the 
soldiers,  all  hold  out  their  hands  for  "Bakshish,  bakshish, 
bakshish." 

The  beggars  resemble  ragbags  or  scarecrows.  They 
are  professional  beggars.  Their  garments  hang  around 
them  like  a  gunny-sack  stretched  over  a  bean  pole,  and 
in  their  outstretched  hands  are  two  rusty  dippers.  Their 
feet  may  be  compared  to  a  large  bear's  foot  after  pulling 

98 


it  out  of  soft  black  mud.  They  speak  not,  but  their  silence 
is  understood  by  all. 

And  there  is  another  class,  and  these  expect  a  tip  at 
every  turn.  It  is  not  wise  to  give  alms  to  street  beggars, 
for  if  a  charitably  disposed  person  begins  to  give  alms, 
he  is  pestered  beyond  endurance. 

From  the  wilderness  we  journeyed  on  six  miles  and 
came  to  the  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  Dead  Sea  is  45 
miles  long  and  from  four  to  ten  miles  wide,  and  its  great- 
est depth  is  1300  feet.  The  surface  is  about  1400  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  water  contains  25% 
solid  substance  in  solution,  of  which  8%  is  salt.  This  is 
six  times  as  dense  as  the  water  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

No  living  thing  can  be  found  in  its  waters  and  no 
vegetation  of  any  kind  grows  on  its  shores.  About  seven 
million  tons  of  water  flow  into  the  Dead  Sea  each  day, 
all  of  which  is  carried  off  by  evaporation. 

Not  far  from  the  Dead  Sea,  on  the  road  to  Jericho,  is 
a  pillar  of  salt  which  from  a  distance  resembles  a  human 
figure,  and  which  is  said  to  be  Lot's  wife,  and  for  300 
yards  each  way  nothing  grows,  as  it  is  all  salt. 

We  left  the  city  of  Jericho  at  five  o  'clock,  March  10th, 
and  proceeded  by  rail  to  Jerusalem,  reaching  that  city 
at  noon. 

When  traveling  in  Turkey  you  need  a  passport  from 
Uncle  Sam.  Then  in  Turkey  you  need  a  Turkish  lozera 
(local  passport)  costing  $2.00  for  traveling  in  Galilee  or 
Samaria.  Firearms  and  ammunition  are  prohibited,  and 

99 


tobacco  is  sometimes  confiscated  in  Syria.  There  are 
trained  dragomen  in  Palestine.  They  are,  as  a  rule, 
Christian  gentlemen  of  wide  knowledge  concerning  the 
Bible  and  Palestine. 


100 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE    WILDERNESS   OF   JUDEA. 

Ihe  Wilderness  of  Judea  is  a  mountain,  the  scene  of 
our  Lord's  temptation.  Along  its  face  are  openings  or 
caves,  once  used  by  hermits,  and  just  beyond  these  may 
be  seen  the  walls  of  a  small  Greek  Convent.  In  the  cliffs, 
higher  up,  are  the  ruins  of  the  "Chapel  of  the  Tempta- 
tion." It  takes  a  practiced  climber  to  reach  it.  Now,  if 
you  are  a  good  climber,  we  are  where  the  devil  taketh 
him  up  into  an  exceedingly  high  mountain  and  showeth 
him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them. 
Reader,  give  this  a  serious  thought  and  see  what  this 
devil  is.  Look  this  up  as  it  may  be  of  great  interest  to 
you.  We  could  only  see  the  whole  world  in  mind.  Look 
this  up  before  you  pass  judgment.  See  the  answer  Jesus 
gave.  "Get  thee  hence,  Satan,  for  it  is  written  thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  thy  G0d  only." 

"You  say,"  said  my  friend,  "that  there  is  no  devil." 
"Here  is  the  greatest  demonstration  of  Jesus'  perfect 
life.  He  overcame  the  evil  thoughts  and  an  angel  of  God, 
thoughts,  ministered  unto  him.  See  what  wonderful 
works  he  did  by  denying  the  thought  of  an  earthly  king. 
How  much  better  it  would  be  for  us  to  deny  the  worldly 

101' 


honors.  'And  behold  an  angel  came  and  ministered  unto 
him/  He  came  and  dwelt  in  Capernaum  which  is  on  the 
sea  coast  in  the  border  of  Zabulon  and  Naphthalim,  by 
the  way  of  the  sea,  beyond  Jordan,  Galilee  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. The  people  that  sat  in  darkness  saw  a  great  light, 
and  to  them  which  sat  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death, 
light  is  sprung  up.  And  Jesus  full  of  good  thoughts  and 
deeds,  went  about  all  Galilee  teaching  and  healing  all 
manner  of  diseases." 

Leaving  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  we  passed  the  site 
of  Bethagla  (Josh.  15 :  6)  in  full  view  of  Mounts  Nebo 
and  Pisgah.  And  Moses  went  up  to  the  mountains  of 
Nebo  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  the  Lord  showed  him  all 
the  land  of  Gilead  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naphtali,  and  the 
land  of  Ephraim  and  Manassah,  and  all  the  land  of  Judah, 
unto  the  utmost  sea,  and  the  south  and  the  Plain  of  the 
Valley  of  Jericho  the  city  of  palm  trees  unto  Zoar.  The 
Lord  said,  '  *  This  is  the  land  which  I  swear  unto  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  I  will  give  it  unto  thy  seed."  All 
nations  agree  that  his  promise  was  made  to  the  Jews. 

"But,"  said  my  friend,  "this  prophecy  is  literally 
lost." 

"No,  all  the  Old  Testament  which  the  Jews  reverence, 
prophesies  that  the  Messiah  would  be  born  from  one  of 
their  daughters  and  they  would  reject  him,  which  is  ful- 
filled. He  came  to  his  own  and  his  own  received  him  not, 
but  as  many  as  will  receive  him  he  will  give  eternal  life. 
'  .  •*•  102 


Now  the  time  is  at  hand.  They  will  be  restored  as  they 
accept  the  Christ.  They  are  coming  by  the  thousands 
and  receiving  the  healing  balm." 


103 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


WHO   ARE    THE   BEDOUINS? 

The  Arabs,  as  a  nation,  have  not  been  prominent  in 
either  biblical  or  secular  history,  but  certain  allusions  to 
them  from  time  to  time  remind  us  of  their  continuous 
existence. 

It  was  to  a  company  of  Ishmaelites  that  Joseph  was 
sold  and  taken  into  Egypt,  and  from  this  race  came  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  (II  Chr.  9:1).  She  came  to  prove  Solo- 
mon with  hard  questions  at  Jerusalem,  with  a  very  great 
company  and  camels  that  bore  spices  and  gold  in  abund- 
ance, and  precious  stones.  And  she  said  to  the  King, 
"It  was  a  true  report  which  I  heard  in  mine  own  land,  of 
the  wisdom,  the  half  of  which  has  not  been  told  me." 

That  Arabia  has  always  been  the  home  and  land  of 
the  Arab,  there  is  no  doubt.  Long  before  the  Children 
of  Israel  possessed  the  Promised  Land,  the  descendents 
of  Abraham,  through  Ishmael,  possessed  this  land,  and 
they  dwelt  from  Havilah  unto  Shur  that  is  before  Egypt 
(Gen.  25:18).  One  thousand  years  later  their  land  was 
spoken  of  by  Isaiah  as  the  desert  of  the  sea,  and  in  Isaiah 
we  read  of  the  encampment  that  Kedar  doth  inhabit. 

Later  Jeremiah  speaks  about  the  tents,  customs,  ves- 

104 


sels  and  camels  of  Kedar,  and  also  refers  to  this  people 
as  a  nation,  wealthy,  dwelling  without  care,  having 
neither  gates  nor  bars — dwelling  alone. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  Abraham's  bond  women 
brought  forth  this  great  nation,  and  Hagar  is  the  mother 
of  them  all  (Gen.  16:10).  And  Hagar  bare  a  son  and 
the  son  which  Hagar  bare  was  Ishmael.  And  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  said  unto  her,  "I  will  multiply  thy  seed  ex- 
ceedingly that  it  shall  not  be  numbered  for  multitude." 

To  Abraham  (Gen.  17:20),  "And  as  for  Ishmael  I 
heard  thee.  Behold  I  have  blessed  him  and  will  make 
him  fruitful  and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation." 

To  Abraham  (Gen.  21:13),  "Of  the  son  of  thy  bond- 
woman will  I  make  a  nation  because  he  is  thy  seed." 

And  to  Hagar  (Gen.  21:18),  "Arise,  lift  up  the  lad 
and  hold  him  in  thy  hand,  for  I  will  make  him  a  great 
nation. ' ' 

Who  are  the  Bedouins?  They  are  proud  of  their 
descent  from  Abraham  and  Ishmael  in  fulfillment  of  the 
promises:  "And  he  will  be  a  wild  man.  His  hand  will 
be  against  every  man  and  every  man's  hand  against  him, 
and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren. ' ' 

Invaders,  one  after  another,  have  tried  in  vain  to  get 
the  Arab's  country,  but  have  failed  and  no  section  of  his 
country  has  been  taken  by  any  of  the  Christian  powers  of 
the  earth. 

Ishmael  was  born  in  Mamre  but  was  sent  into  the 
wilderness  south  of  Beersheba,  Paran,  when  he  was  six- 
teen years  old.  He  had  a  wife  from  Egypt  who  was  the 

105 


mother  of  his  twelve  sons  and  one  daughter.  Esan  mar- 
ried the  daughter.  Ishmael  dwelt  from  Havilah  unto  Shur 
that  is  before  Egypt  (Gen.  25:18).  Their  language  is 
spoken  all  over  Arabia  and  here  the  prophecy — "He  shall 
be  a  wild  ass,  every  man  against  every  man" — is  now  and 
ever  has  been  true.  The  desert  is  called  in  Arabic 
"Bedu, "  and  the  genuine  Arab  calls  himself  "Bedouin" 
(desert  man).  Four  thousand  years  have  not  changed 
their  dispositions,  manners,  habits,  occupations,  govern- 
ment or  dress.  They  live  in  caves  and  crevices  in  the 
rocks  to  this  day,  as  they  did  in  the  time  of  Jesus.  "And 
they  came  over  the  sea  unto  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes 
and  there  met  him  a  man  out  of  the  tombs  with  an  unclean 
spirit,  and  he  said,  'Come  out  of  him,  thou  unclean 
spirit.'  " 

As  a  nation,  they  have  no  use  for  intoxicating  drinks. 
Immorality  is  promptly  and  severely  dealt  with  by  the 
killing  of  the  guilty  parties.  Every  tribe  has  its  chief. 
They  have  no  form  of  government.  Their  chiefs  adjust 
difficulties  and  dangers.  From  what  I  saw,  I  find  if  you 
treat  them  right  you  have  made  a  faithful  friend.  A 
great  sight  it  is  when  the  Bedouins  come  from  the  deserts 
with  camels  loaded  with  kids,  lambs,  meats  and  skins  to 
exchange  for  dates,  grain  and  the  few  other  necessities 
of  life. 

Camels  are  used  as  a  means  of  traveling,  especially 
across  the  desert,  both  for  riding  and  for  burdens,  and 
also  used  in  war.  The  hair  which  is  shed  in  the  spring, 
is  made  into  tent  cloth  and  heavy  cloaks  for  cold  rains, 

106 


and  are  used  in  the  desert.  The  fine  hair  is  made  into 
shawls.  Its  meat  is  forbidden  as  food,  because  it  does 
not  divide  the  hoof.  Some  of  their  pet  camels  are  orna- 
mented with  silver  and  gold  and  fancy  needle  work.  Its 
feet  are  provided  with  pads  under  the  two  toes  which  do 
not  easily  sink  in  the  sand.  Its  nostrils  can  be  closed  at 
will,  against  the  dust  or  sand  or  hot  wind.  Its  long  sharp 
teeth  are  adapted  to  cut  off  the  prickly  shrubs  of  the 
desert.  Its  hump  is  almost  pure  fat,  which  can  be  afr 
sorbed  on  a  long  journey,  where  food  is  scarce,  and  its 
stomach  has  several  extra  water  bags  holding  supply  for 
many  days.  The  desert  would  be  uninhabitable  were  it 
not  for  the  camel.  The  camel 's  milk  is  a  luxury  in  the 
east. 

The  swiftness  of  the  camel  is  one  thousand  miles  in 
nine  days.  They  are  very  docile.  They  lie  down  to  re- 
ceive their  burdens,  and  sometimes  their  masters  overload 
them  so  they  cannot  rise  to  their  feet.  Then  three  or  four 
of  these  cruel  Bedouins  help  them  to  their  feet  and  they 
carry  the  overload  all  day.  They  make  a  hideous  noise 
when  they  rise  to  their  feet  with  an  overload. 

The  Bedouins  live  in  tents  of  hair.  These  are  made 
entirely  of  goat's  hair  which  is  collected,  spun  and  woven 
by  the  women,  and  are  water  and  wind  proof.  Instead 
of  house-cleaning,  they  move  their  tents.  There  are  large 
villages  of  Bedouins  who  have  been  without  a  house  for 
over  three  thousand  years. 

Noah  lived  in  a  tent ;  Abraham  lived  in  a  tent ;  Jacob 
pitched  his  tent  in  the  mountains;  Isaac  pitched  his  tent 

107 


in  the  valley;  Lot  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom;  the 
Syrian  army  was  in  a  tent.  "0  Israel,  to  your  tents." 
The  woman  Jael  nailed  Sisera  to  the  ground  within  a 
tent.  Paul  was  a  tent  maker.  Isaiah  indicates  that  all 
the  human  race  lived  under  the  blue  tent  of  the  sky  when 
he  said  that  ''God  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain 
and  spreadeth  them  out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in." 

THE   BIBLE. 

The  Bible  is  the  only  authentic  source  from  which 
instruction  can  be  derived.  It  is  sufficient  to  justify  the 
faith  of  the  feeblest  Christian.  It  teaches  us  to  regard 
the  Bible  as  the  utterance  of  Divine  Wisdom  and  Love. 

God  is  good. 
Good  is  God. 
Manifested  in  the  Spirit. 
Seen  by  the  angels. 
Proclaimed  among  the  Gentiles. 
Received  up  into  Glory. 

RULES  TO  STUDY  THE  BIBLE. 

Put  yourself,  as  it  were,  in  the  times,  places  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  writers. 

Carefully  consider  the  context  before  you  draw  a  con- 
clusion. 

Consider  the  circumstances  of  a  passage  as  far  as  you 
can,  by  whom  it  was  written,  and  with  what  design. 

Never  form  opinions  from  detailed  parts  and  passages. 

108 


Be  content  to  remain  in  ignorance  rather  than  to 
plunge  into  error. 

Do  not  judge  your  brother,  for  you  yourself  might  be 
the  one  in  error.  Always  have  charity  for  your  brother, 
as  his  ways  and  thoughts  are  not  yours. 

I  want  to  give  you  one  illustration :  We  tell  our  chil- 
dren that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  above,  and  God  dwells 
on  a  throne;  and  the  streets  are  lined  with  gold.  How 
misleading!  when  Jesus  says  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is 
within  you.  Malachi  says,  "The  Lord  whom  ye  seek  shall 
suddenly  come  to  his  temple."  Paul  says,  "If  you  have 
not  the  mind  of  Christ,  you  are  none  of  his. ' ' 


109 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE    TWO    CEEATIONS. 

A  Scriptural  Narrative  Concerning  the  Two  Creations. 

In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  and  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  And  the  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  And  God  said, 
"Let  there  be  light:"  and  there  was  light. 

John  5 :  39  says,  ' '  Search  the  scriptures ;  for  in  them 
ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life:  and  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  me."  As  we  seek  to  know  and  find  God,  our 
first  thought  naturally  is  to  find  what  God  is  to  us,  our 
relationship.  As  a  starting  point  we  find  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Good  Book,  first  verse,  "In  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  and  from  the 
first  to  the  twenty-sixth  verse  we  find  that  God  created  the 
firmament  which  he  called  heaven.  Take  notice  this  is 
the  firmament.  And  he  also  created  the  light,  the  grass, 
the  herb,  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit,  the  fish  and  every 
living  creature,  cattle,  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  God  saw 
that  it  was  good.  Now  in  the  26th  verse  God  said,  "Let 
us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness."  Notice 
God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship 

110 


him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  (John  4:24.)  The  image  of 
anything  is  an  exact  production  or  counterpart  of  the 
thing  itself.  Therefore,  man  is  made  in  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God.  In  the  27th  verse,  "So  God  created  man 
in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him, 
male  and  female,  created  he  them." 

So,  to  begin  with  we  find  man  is  made  in  the  image 
of  spirit.  What  is  spirit?  We  answer,  the  life  of  man. 
Therefore,  God  is  the  life  of  man.  Acts  17:28— "For  in 
him  we  live,  and  move,  and  breathe,  and  have  our  being." 
And  in  Gen.  1 : 31,  God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made 
and  behold  it  was  very  good.  We  find  now  that  man  is 
good.  And  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  first  and 
second  verses,  "Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were 
finished  and  all  the  host  of  them,  and  on  the  seventh  day 
God  ended  his  work  and  rested." 

We  naturally  ask  why  have  we  been  believing  that 
man  was  evil.  And  who  made  this  evil?  Finding,  as  we 
have,  that  God  finished  his  work,  and  saw  everything  that 
he  had  made  and  it  was  good.  Take  notice  that  in  the 
sixth  verse  of  the  second  chapter,  "But  there  went  up  a 
mist  from  the  earth  and  watered  the  whole  face  of  the 
ground" — (an  exceedingly  heavy  mist).  And  in  the 
seventh  verse  we  find  a  man  made  from  the  dust  of  the 
ground  and  the  Lord  God  breathed  into  his  nostrils  and 
man  became  a  living  soul. 

Here  is  another  man  made  from  the  dust  of  the  ground 
which  a  mist  had  covered.  Well,  we  go  farther  and  find, 
in  the  eighteenth  verse,  this  man  had  no  helpmeet,  so  in 

ill 


the  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  verses,  the  Lord  God 
caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and  he  slept,  and 
he  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead 
thereof,  and  the  rib  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from 
man  made  he  a  woman  and  brought  her  unto  the  man. 
And  twenty-third  verse — and  Adam  said,  ''This  is  now 
bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesh.  She  shall  be 
called  woman  because  she  was  taken  out  of  man.  And 
this  man  was  made  from  the  dust  of  the  ground,  not  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God — Spirit. 

So  we  wonder  God  having  made  all  in  and  of  spirit, 
and  this  man  made  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  we  find 
here  another  distinct  creation.  Let  us  see.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis  we  find  a  serpent 
taken  into  account  as  a  prominent  feature,  and  he  is 
securing  a  hearing  with  the  woman,  using  his  influence 
to  introduce  or  create  disobedience  into  his  creation  by 
declaring  (after  the  woman  having  said — in  the  2nd  and 
3rd  verses — what  they  were  forbidden  to  do,  "We  may 
eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the  garden,  but  of  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  God  has 
said  'Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it  lest 
ye  die'  "),  "Ye  shall  not  surely  die,  for  God  doth  know 
that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof  then  your  eyes  shall  be 
opened  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil." 
(4th  and  5th  verses.)  Notice  after  ye  partake  of  this 
fruit  then  your  eyes  shall  be  open  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods, 
knowing  good  and  evil.  Here  comes  in  a  knowledge  of 
evil.  In  this  second  creation  we  find  evil,  while  in  the 

112 


spiritual  we  find  only  good.  Designating  the  first  as  a 
spiritual  creation  in  which  only  good  is  found,  the  oppo- 
site where  evil  is  found,  we  term  a  material  creation.  Now 
comes  the  question,  in  which  are  we  to  rely?  We  are  all 
looking  for  good  and  naturally  say,  give  me  the  spiritual 
every  time.  Well,  how  are  we  going  to  rid  ourselves  of 
believing  the  material  where  evil  reigns?  So  we  will  get 
at  the  bottom  of  this  second  creation  and  see  what  founda- 
tion this  Adam  man  rests  on. 

At  Jerusalem  in  charge  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  there 
are  in  evidence  Turkish  soldiers,  largely  from  the  fact  of 
the  constant  disturbance  that  arises  among  the  various 
Christian  sects,  especially  on  festal  days.  Here  each 
denomination  has  its  own  shrine  within  the  enclosure,  and 
each  regards  the  other  as  intruders.  We  pay  one  franc 
for  a  candle  to  light  us  through,  and  we  find  the  exact 
spot  where,  it  is  said,  the  dust  was  procured  for  the 
creation  of  Adam.  Now  the  definition  from  Webster — in 
Hebrew,  man,  earth  man;  red  earth.  And  the  word 
Adamic,  pertaining  to  Adam ;  Adamic  earth ;  a  name  given 
to  common  red  clay,  from  a  notion  that  Adam  means  red 
earth.  We  also  learn  that  Adam  lived  930  years,  and  he 
died,  and  they  point  out  his  grave  near  by,  over  which  a 
part  of  the  building  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  has  been  built. 
The  death  of  Eve  is  not  recorded. 

Now  God  has  made  all  good,  then  turns  around  and 
makes  a  man  from  the  dust  and  places  a  temptation  before 
him  to  do  evil  and  lets  it  govern  him.  Is  this  consistent? 
Would  this  not  be  charging  God  with  having  created 

113 


another  creation  and  it  an  evil  one;  creating  one  thing 
on  a  foundation  of  only  good,  and  another  thing  on  a 
foundation  of  evil  and  giving  it  the  greater  power  so 
that  it  would  be  able  to  tear  down  the  first  creation  and 
abolish  it.  Would  any  one  accounted  as  possessing  good 
sense  make  such  a  mess  of  their  efforts'?  Much  less  the 
all-wise,  all-knowing,  all-seeing,  Infinite  Wisdom. 

God,  Spirit,  rules  supreme  in  the  spiritual  creation. 
The  devil,  evil,  rules  supreme,  by  a  recognition  of  another 
power,  through  greed,  lust,  deceit,  murder,  sin,  disease 
and  death — the  fruit  of  the  material  creation. 

Definition  of  devil :  Smith 's  Bible  Dictionary — In  the 
Greek — diabolos,  slanderer,  false  accuser.  In  the  Hebrew 
— Satan.  To  lie  in  wait,  to  oppose.  The  opposite  of  God. 
This  character  expresses  the  antagonistic,  malicious  and 
perverse  nature  of  the  enemy  of  God  and  man.  He  is  also 
called  dragon,  evil  one,  angel  of  bottomless  pit,  prince  of 
the  world,  the  god  of  this  world.  There  we  find  the  god 
of  the  second  creation,  and  the  first  commandment  reads, 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods  before  me" — Spirit;  and 
Jesus  further  speaks  of  the  devil  (John  8 : 44)  as  a  liar 
and  the  father  of  lies  and  abode  not  in  the  truth  for  there 
is  no  truth  in  him.  And  in  Rev.  20 : 1-2-10-14,  the  devil 
(god  of  this  world)  that  deceived,  was  chained  by  an 
angel  from  heaven,  having  the  key  to  the  bottomless  pit. 
(Notice  this  having  the  key).  And  laid  hold  on  the 
dragon,  that  old  serpent  which  is  the  devil.  And  death 
and  hell  were  cast  into  the  bottomless  pit. 

114 


Now  for  centuries  this  creation  of  the  man,  Adam,  has 
held  us  through  a  recognition  of  another  power  called 
evil,  serving  two  masters.  The  serpent  was  more  subtile 
than  any  beast  of  the  field  and  he  pops  up  whenever  we 
will  listen  to  him.  He  will  dictate  to  us  all  day  if  we 
give  him  a  hearing.  We  knowing  of  only  one  power  and 
that  God,  good,  should  realize  that  evil  has  no  more  power 
than  the  nerves  of  a  dead  man.  We  find  also  through 
recognizing  the  two  creations  as  one  and  God  being  the 
creator  of  both,  that  we  get  into  a  very  mixed  condition 
of  thinking  by  recognizing  one  power  of  evil,  also  another 
of  good.  The  evil  has  been  feared  and  has  influenced  us 
as  having  more  power  than  good,  through  our  business 
relations,  government,  sickness  and  sin,  and  we  often 
confess  that  it  is  easier  to  do  wrong  than  right  at  all 
times ;  and  giving  power  to  evil,  sin,  disease,  as  when  any 
disease  attacks  us  we  are  filled  with  fear  and  worry,  and 
any  serious  trouble  confronts  us  of  a  sinful  nature  we 
give  it  our  whole  attention  and  worry  how  it  will  come 
out.  We  hope  and  pray,  but  when  placed  in  the  balance, 
fear  and  doubt  weighs  the  heaviest,  and  we  give  up  to 
what  we  have  called  the  inevitable  and  have  called  it 
God's  Will.  Think  of  it!  God 'swill! 

Therefore,  the  foundation  of  this  consists  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  sin,  sickness  and  death,  having  as  its  ultimate  the 
bottomless  pit  spoken  of  in  Rev.  20 : 1-3.  Now  from  this 
mist  or  misapprehension  that  covered  the  whole  face  of 
the  ground,  we  find  to  have  arisen  the  knowledge  of  evil 
and  all  of  its  accompaniments,  consequently  believing 

115 


they  were  one  and  the  same  creation,  we  charged  God, 
who  created  only  good,  with  this  terrible  state  of  affairs. 
So  having  reached  the  City  of  Adam  (owing  to  the  red 
nature  of  the  earth),  that  is  by  Zaretan,  we  looked  for  a 
guide  to  find  our  way  to  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  Notice 
eternal  in  the  heavens,  and  the  firmament  he  called  heaven 
— Gen.  1 :  8 — which  foundation  is  the  Rock — Christ.  Hav- 
ing found  that  we  are  created  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God,  we  find  the  true  creation  to  be  spiritual,  not 
material ;  also,  that  Jesus  Christ  came  as  the  way-shower 
to  teach  us  how  to  build  on  a  true  and  firm  foundation, 
against  which  the  storms  may  beat  and  spend  their  fury, 
but  this  house  falls  not  because  it  is  built  on  the  rock 
Christ,  Truth.  He  made  the  statement,  "I  am  the  Way. 
the  Truth  and  the  Life,"  and  he  backed  up  his  saying 
by  giving  proofs  of  it,  in  healing  the  sick,  casting  out 
devils,  restoring  the  lame,  blind  and  halt,  and  raising  the 
dead  in  many  instances,  and  finally  in  his  own  personal 
experience  at  the  crucifixion.  John  17:3,  "And  this  is 
life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee,  the  only  true 
God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent."  Notice  life 
is  a  knowledge  of  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  so 
through  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  teaching  and 
proofs  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  get  rid  of  the  belief  of  serving 
two  masters — God  and  mammon — good  and  evil — through 
the  understanding  of  the  one  and  only  true  creation  which 
Jesus  himself  gave  ample  proof  of. 


116 


A    CLOSING    WOED. 

I  stood  in  the  "temple  area"  which  was  the  site  of 
Solomon's  Temple  but  now  the  courtyard  of  the  Mosque 
of  Omar.  It  is  on  a  slight  elevation  which  was  called  by 
the  Jews,  Mount  Moriah.  Back  to  the  time  of  which 
history  has  no  record,  this  spot  has  been  reserved  as  a 
place  of  religious  worship.  Many  centuries  before  the 
great  Temple  was  reared,  pagan  nations  had  used  it  as 
a  place  of  sacrifice,  and  here  Abraham  came  and  made 
his  offerings  to  the  Lord. 

I  stood  there,  surrounded  by  my  countrymen  and  the 
guides,  when  suddenly  I  saw  a  vision.  I  saw  the  wonder- 
ful Temple  of  Solomon  as  it  was  in  the  day  of  that  great 
king.  I  saw  the  ' '  greater  house ' '  ceiled  with  fragrant  fir, 
overlaid  with  fine  gold,  and  set  with  palm  trees  linked 
with  golden  chains.  The  porches  thereof  were  overlaid 
with  gold  of  Parvaim,  and  posts,  beams  and  walls  were 
of  carven  gold.  Immense  Lebanon  cedars  supported  the 
lofty  walls,  and  pillars  were  reared  before  the  temple,  to 
the  right  and  to  the  left. 

I  saw  the  Holy  House,  within  the  inner  temple,  with 
its  guarding  cherubims  of  fine  gold  whose  outstretched 
wings  hovered  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant.  I  saw  the  altar 
of  burnished  brass,  and  the  laver  of  molten  brass  with 
brim  worked  in  lily  flowers;  the  golden  candle  sticks  and 
all  the  golden  vessels  about  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 

A  moment  the  glorious  vision  gleamed  before  my  eyes 
and  vanished.  Only  the  cracked  and  broken  stones  of  the 

117 


courtyard,  the  Moslem  Mosque  behind  me,  and  ruins  all 
about. 

I  have  pondered  on  this  vision,  and  God's  reasons  for 
rearing  the  magnificent  temple  and  then  destroying  it  and 
removing  every  trace  of  his  favored  servant's  handiwork, 
and  the  truth  was  borne  into  my  mind  that  the  vision  was 
for  me.  I  saw  the  temple  that  I  must  build,  pure  inside 
and  out,  with  all  the  rubbish  heaved  out  over  the  walls. 
My  temple  made  without  hands  must  be  eternal  in  Har- 
mony. In  my  temple  must  be  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant, 
the  Covenant  of  Jesus  which  is  "Love  Thy  Neighbor  as 
Thyself,"  and  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  law. 

How  can  we  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves?  Saying 
that  we  love  our  neighbor  does  not  make  it  so.  We  must 
show  it  in  our  works.  When  we  bring  ourselves  into 
harmonious  relations  with  Divine  love,  we  must  neces- 
sarily be  in  the  same  harmonious  relations  with  our  neigh- 
bor and  love  him  as  we  do  ourselves. 

What  will  be  the  future  of  Jerusalem?  I  gazed  upon 
the  ruins  and  saw  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  the  possi- 
bilities which  may  come  to  pass  in  this  historic  land.  Only 
a  few  thousand  people  inhabit  a  country  that  can  be  made 
to  support  two  or  three  millions.  The  population  are  the 
meanest  and  most  degraded  of  people.  The  filth  and 
disease  of  their  physical  lives  is  equaled  only  by  the  mire 
of  their  morals  and  the  low  average  of  their  mentalities. 
The  weak  and  inefficient  Sultan  is  allowing  his  power  to 
slip  away  from  him.  Concession  follows  concession  to 
Germans,  English  and  French  and  to  his  own  subjects. 

118 


Divine  Wisdom  is  working  out  the  problem.  Nations  are 
the  crayons,  and  time  the  slate  on  which  the.  sum  is  being 
solved,  and  the  grand  result  will  be,  that  through  the 
power  of  love,  Jerusalem  shall  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
people  of  Christ  and  the  Son  shall  turn  all  over  into  the 
dominion  of  the  Father.  Jerusalem  shall  be  restored,  not 
in  its  original  physical  magnificence,  but  in  the  greater 
glory  of  a  spiritual  reconstruction,  and  all  nations  of  the 
world  shall  flock  to  the  Holy  City. 


119 


PART  II. 


CHAPTER  I. 


BIRDS  OF  PASSAGE. 

Editor  Times, 

Eureka,  California. 

I  will  leave  January  12,  1908,  on  the  Steamer  Geo. 
W.  Elder,  and  will  stop  in  San  Francisco  for  six  days, 
then  take  the  Southern  Pacific  via  New  Orleans  to  New 
York.  I  will  stop  five  days  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  where 
I  will  visit  the  Capitol  of  our  United  States;  thence  go 
on  to  New  York,  where  five  days  will  be  enjoyed  in  the 
wintry  scenes  of  a  great  city. 

I  will  embark  Thursday,  February  6th,  at  8  a.  m.,  from 
the  White  Star  line  pier,  foot  of  West  Eleventh  Street, 
New  York,  on  the  Steamer  Arabic,  16,000  tons,  one  of 
the  largest  boats  plying  on  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic, 
having  on  board  an  excellent  band  of  trained  musicians, 
which  will  play  daily  during  lunch  and  dinner  hour ;  also 
on  arriving  and  departing  from  ports. 

Leaving  New  York  we  will  steam  directly  across  the 
south  Atlantic  to  the  Madeira  Islands,  thence  to  Cadiz, 
Spain,  Seville  and  Gibraltar,  where  we  will  enter  the 

121 


Mediterranean  touching  Algiers,  along  the  African  coast, 
Malta,  Athens,  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  Rhodes  and 
Cyprus,  Safia,  Mount  Carmel,  and  the  Holy  Land,  Jeru- 
salem, Lake  Galilee  and  Cana  of  Galilee,  Tiberias,  Nazar- 
eth, Mount  Tabor,  Dead  Sea,  Jordan,  Jericho,  the  Wilder- 
ness of  Judea,  Bethany,  Joppa,  Alexandria,  Cairo,  Naples, 
Pompeii,  Rome,  Nice,  Villefranche,  Monte  Carlo;  through 
Italy,  Switzerland,  Germany,  France,  Paris,  London, 
Stratford-on-Avon,  Windsor  Castle,  Oxford,  Warwick 
Castle,  Liverpool,  Queenstown,  and  home  to  New  York 
about  May  15th. 


On  Board  S.  S.  Arabic,  February  19,  1908. 
Editor  Times, 

Eureka,  California. 

Upon  leaving  New  York,  February  6th,  we  had  zero 
weather.  The  harbor  was  full  of  ice,  and  the  wind  blow- 
ing a  regular  gale.  Just  think  how  nice  for  a  Californian. 

We  steamed  south  for  2,700  miles  past  the  Isle  of 
Azores  to  Madeira,  the  island  of  sunshine,  which  belongs 
to  Portugal,  where  perennial  verdure  greets  the  eye. 
Here  a  ball  was  given  in  our  honor  at  the  fine  Casino. 
Funchal,  the  capital,  lies  on  an  abrupt  slope  with  moun- 
tains towering  in  the  background  to  a  height  of  5,000 
feet.  Owing  to  the  steep  road,  the  vehicles  consist  of 
sleds  drawn  by  oxen.  When  we  arrived  within  six  hun- 
dred miles  of  Madeira  we  encountered  Humboldt  weather ; 
its  fog  made  me  think  of  home.  Madeira  is  a  grand  sight 

122 


from  where  our  ship  lay  at  anchor  in  the  harbor.  The 
town  is  built  of  stone  painted  white.  I  was  the  first  one 
to  step  on  shore.  The  main  places  of  interest  are  a  fort 
four  hundred  years  old,  fine  parks  and  gardens,  and  the 
small  narrow  streets  so  crooked  you  can't  see  one  hun- 
dred feet  ahead.  The  streets  and  sidewalks  are  constructed 
of  little  pebbles  set  on  end,  and  they  keep  them  greased 
so  the  sleds  will  slide  easily.  These  sleds  are  handled  by 
oxen.  On  the  streets  are  seen  women  and  children  carry- 
ing great  heavy  burdens  on  their  heads. 

Ample  time  was  given  at  Funchal  for  a  thorough  in- 
spection of  the  quaint  old  city.  Those  who  wished  to,  took 
the  celebrated  slide  down  the  mountain,  two  miles  on  a 
sled  guided  by  one  of  the  natives. 

The  visit  to  this  island  is  seldom  made  by  American 
travelers,  and  it  is  viewed  with  great  interest.  Just  think 
for  a  moment,  eight  days'  steady  steaming  on  the  Atlantic, 
then  to  stop  in  sunshine,  fruit  and  flowers.  Don't  you 
think  we  were  ready  for  them? 

In  the  harbor  there  were  about  fifty  small  boats,  with 
two  persons  to  a  boat,  one  rowing  and  the  other  a  diver. 
Our  people  would  throw  in  two  or  four  bits,  and  before 
it  went  ten  feet,  they  would  secure  it;  the  water  was 
forty-five  feet  in  depth  where  we  anchored.  Madeira  is 
certainly  an  island  of  flowers,  and  fruit  and  all  kinds  of 
vegetables  grow  in  abundance. 

From  Madeira,  we  steamed  over  the  well-known  track 
of  ancient  navigators  to  Cadiz,  Spain.  Here  we  landed 
February  19th,  and  took  carriage  drives  of  about  three 

123 


hours,  four  tourists  to  a  carriage.  Cadiz,  is  the  famous 
seaport  from  which  Columbus  set  forth  upon  his  wonder- 
ful voyage  of  discovery.  A  town  of  70.000  people.  Here 
we  begin  to  tread  the  ground  where  the  Apostle  Paul 
visited.  Romans  15  :  24-28. 

Our  ship  gave  better  service  than  any  I  have  ever  seen 
in  all  my  travels.  I  must  say  we  are  treated  like  lords. 

Will  write  you  from  Constantinople,  as  from  now  on 
we  will  see  things  of  interest. 


Gibraltar,  February  24,  1908. 

Editor  Times, 

• 

Eureka,  California. 

The  first  visit  of  note  we  made  in  Cadiz,  Spain,  when 
we  landed  February  20th,  was  to  the  cathedral  built  in 
1722  and  completed  in  1836.  This  old  cathedral  or  church 
possesses  no  feature  of  note  or  beauty  but  the  tabernacle 
or  Holy  of  Holies,  made  of  solid  silver,  kept  there  and  is 
worth  seeing.  At  the  chapel  of  Capuchinos  is  a  picture, 
"The  Espousal  of  Santa  Catalina,"  which  is  fixed  above 
the  high  altar.  This  wras  Murilla's  last  painting — the 
vision  of  San  Francisco. 

The  botanic  garden  is  only  a  small  garden  of  no  note, 
but  for  the  fact  that  in  the  center  is  an  excellent  specimen 
of  the  dragon  tree,  four  hundred  years  old.  At  the  Church 
of  San  Felipe  Neri,  above  the  high  altar,  is  a  picture  of 
the  Virgin,  by  Murillo,  one  of  his  best. 

124 


The  best  club  in  Cadiz  is  at  the  Casino  Guditano.  Its 
principal  apartment,  on  the  ground,  is  a  beautiful  speci- 
men of  Moorish  architecture. 

A  look  inside  the  bull  ring  will  enable  one  who  has 
never  seen  a  bull  fight  to  form  some  idea  of  the  sport..  A 
special  Spanish  dance,  for  which  this  part  of  Spain  is 
noted,  was  arranged  for  us.  It  was  great. 

Now  we  leave  Cadiz  and  take  up  Seville,  the  most  in- 
teresting town  in  Spain.  The  ride  from  Cadiz  to  Seville, 
a  distance  of  ninety-five  miles,  is  through  a  most  fertile 
valley  and  beautiful  country — passing  through  the  towns 
of  San  Fernando,  Puerta  Keal,  and  Santa  Maria,  all 
located  in  a  rich  vine-growing  district. 

Seville  has  155,320  inhabitants,  and  is  very  prosperous. 
It  has  a  great  deal,  both  in  modern  life  as  well  as  in 
ancient  art,  to  attract  the  traveler.  The  cathedral  is  the 
finest  in  all  Christendom.  Its  stained  glass  is  some  of 
the  finest  known,  enhancing  the  beauty  of  the  interior  and 
glowing  in  the  soft  purple  light  within  the  lofty  dome. 
The  Alcazar  has  beautiful  Moorish  arches  supported  by 
double  marble  columns.  Seville  is  of  interest  from  first 
to  last. 

Our  boat  sailed  for  Gibraltar,  which  we  found  to  be, 
as  the  old  saying  goes,  hard  as  the  rock  of  Gibraltar.  The 
steamer  anchored  well  out  in  the  harbor.  We  landed  in 
steam  tenders  to  visit  the  fortifications.  The  British 
fortress  is  considered  the  strongest  in  the  world.  It  has 
galleries  from  two  or  three  miles  in  length,  tunnelled 
through  the  solid  rock,  and  batteries  built  in  all  advan- 

125 


tageous  points  up  to  1350  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
steamer's  course  is  through  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and 
eastward  toward  the  shores  of  Africa. 

As  we  sailed  away  the  rock  of  Gibraltar  resembled  a 
lion  in  its  outlines.  Gibraltar  extends  about  two  miles 
north  and  south,  and  two-thirds  of  a  mile  east  and  west, 
the  complete  circuit  being  seven  miles.  It  has  three  sum- 
mits. From  a  distance  the  rock  stands  out  there  but  a 
close  approach  shows  it  to  be  covered  with  vines  and 
shrubbery  as  though  nature  were  trying  to  belie  the  rock 's 
warlike  reputation.  The  rock  is  honeycombed  with 
tunnels  from  whose  port  holes  gunners  can  pour  out 
deadly  fire,  being  in  the  meantime  completely  protected. 

Two  100-ton  guns,  thirty-two  feet  long,  are  able  to 
throw  a  shot  of  two  thousand  pounds  weight  a  distance 
of  eight  miles,  one  accurate  shot  being  sufficient  to  destroy 
the  largest  ship  afloat.  Everywhere  on  the  rock  cameras 
are  forbidden,  and  sketching  and  taking  notes  are  not 
allowed.  The  view  from  the  top  of  the  rock  is  one  of  the 
grandest  in  the  world,  overlooking  both  the  European 
and  African  continents,  and  the  sea  dotted  with  ships 
from  every  nation  in  the  world.  Just  opposite  is  the  com- 
panion rock,  a  Spanish  fort  named  the  Mount  of  God. 
England  has  busied  herself  more  with  her  fortifications 
than  with  the  moral  and  religious  redemption. 

The  weather  has  been  delightful,  with  sunshine,  no 
wind,  no  rain  after  we  arrived  at  Madeira.  And  now  we 
are  in  the  Mediterranean. 

126 


City  of  Nazareth,  March  5,  1908. 
Editor  Times, 

Eureka,  California. 

Friday,  February  28th,  we  visited  the  great  city  of 
Constantinople,  the  capital  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  with 
its  1,125,000  people,  consisting  of  about  one-half  Turks, 
one-quarter  Greeks  and  the  balance  Armenians  and  Jews. 
It  is  situated  on  the  Bosphorus,  the  Golden  Horn  and  the 
Sea  of  Marmora.  It  contains  the  Palace  of  the  Sultan, 
and  is  noted  for  its  mosques.  Tcheragan  Seari,  the  chief 
of  the  imperial  palaces,  a  building  of  tremendous  size, 
built  of  marble,  is  of  very  great  magnificence  in  interior 
decorations  and  arrangements. 

Among  the  many  interesting  places  we  visited  was 
the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia,  founded  A.  D.  502,  by  Emperor 
Justinian.  The  great  dome  is  105  feet  in  diameter,  and 
184  feet  high,  and  has  forty  arched  windows.  In  the  base, 
the  aisles  have  galleries  resting  on  arcades  with  beautiful 
columns.  Everything  is  covered  with  gold,  relating  to 
altars,  vaults  and  arches.  Ten  thousand  people  were 
employed  at  its  construction,  and  at  the  cost  of  $5,000,000. 

The  museum  is  certainly  an  interesting  place  as  well 
as  the  bazaars. 

There  are  said  to  be  30,000  dogs  in  the  city,  and  the 
traveler  is  inclined  to  think  this  a  rather  low  estimate. 
They  are  without  owners  and  are  filthy,  wolfish  looking 
curs.  The  penalty  for  killing  a  dog  is  three  years  im- 
prisonment, while  for  killing  a  man  is  seven  years. 

One  entire  day  was  spent  in  carriages,  seeing  many 

127 


attractions.  Sunday  morning,  March  1st,  was  certainly  a 
day  long  to  be  remembered  as  our  ship  steamed  up  the 
Bosphorus  to  the  Black  Sea,  which  is  now  in  Russia's 
possession.  It  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  I  ever 
saw,  as  the  shores  are  close  in.  The  Turks  have  many 
large  and  wicked  looking  guns  stationed  along  the  coast. 
The  Russians  had  better  look  out. 

Monday,  March  2nd,  we  landed  at  Smyrna,  the  most 
important  city  in  Asia  Minor  and  chief  commercial  center 
of  the  Levant.  It  was  very  interesting  to  see  camels 
loaded  with  merchandise,  chief  of  which  are  spices,  rugs, 
emery,  sponges,  carpets,  figs,  dates,  opium  and  embroid- 
eries. 

The  bay  view  from  Mt.  Pagus  is  very  fine.  The  bay  or 
Gulf  of  Smyrna  is  thirty-four  miles  long,  one  of  the  finest 
bays  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  distance  by  rail  to 
Ephesus  is  fifty-four  miles.  It  was  a  delightful  trip  most 
of  the  way,  being  along  a  pleasant  valley  which  marks 
the  highway  that  has  been  traversed  between  Smyrna  and 
Ephesus  from  time  immemorial.  Each  side  of  the  road  is 
lined  with  gardens  and  orchards  of  blooming  fruit  trees. 
The  peasants  were  busy  in  their  fields,  and  there  were 
numerous  caravans  of  camels  along  the  road. 

Here  is  the  Temple  of  Diana  and  the  Roman  Temple, 
the  Greek  tower  or  prison  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  theatre 
which  seated  25,000  persons.  The  Temple  of  Diana  has 
sunk.  Only  a  large  hole  in  the  ground,  filled  with  water, 
remains. 

128 


Going  up  the  steep  hill  to  Pera,  where  the  foreign  em- 
bassies are,  are  seen  many  churches  and  schools.  Then 
we  noticed  the  many  palaces  of  the  Sultan  which  are  very 
fine.  When  he  goes  from  one  to  another  he  is  under  heavy 
guard.  His  subjects  say  he  is  not  a  happy  man,  if  he  does 
have  everything  in  the  world,  which  proves  that  posses- 
sions are  fleeting  and  false,  or  they  would  bring  happiness. 
His  subjects  are  divided  in  their  loyalty,  and  he  feels  it. 

March  4th,  we  steamed  past  the  Isles  of  Rhodes  and 
Cyprus  and  reached  Caifa  about  noon,  where  we  took  car- 
riages for  a  six  hour  drive  across  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon 
to  Nazareth. 

March  5th.  Here  we  are  in  Nazareth.  I  am  sitting  in 
the  hotel  writing  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morning.  After 
breakfast  we  will  visit  all  places  of  historic  interest. 

Later :  This  has  been  a  grand  day  to  me.  We  visited 
the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  founded  by  Empress 
Helena,  but  ruined  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  afterward  it  was 
rebuilt  in  the  crypt  in  which  is  the  traditional  place  of  the 
annunciation,  the  Holy  Grotto.  We  also  visited  the  work- 
shop of  Joseph,  the  Mount  of  Precipitation,  and  the 
Galilean  Hills,  and  many  other  reputed  sights  so  intimately 
associated  with  the  early  life  of  our  Saviour.  Then  we 
passed  through  Cana  of  Galilee.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
God  chose  this  beautiful  place  to  send  his  dear  Son  who 
gives  us  a  hope  of  glory,  as  this  is  the  finest  valley  I  ever 
saw. 

We  crossed  the  great  Crusader  battlefield  of  Hattin, 
and  the  traditional  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  to  Tiberias  on 

129 


the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  After  exploring  the 
bazaar  and  the  streets  of  the  town,  boats  were  provided 
us  and  we  made  an  excursion  to  the  site  of  Capernaum, 
the  scene  of  many  incidents  and  acts  in  the  life  of  our 
Lord,  being  sometimes  called  "His  Own  City." 

After  inspecting  the  many  interesting  ruins,  some  of 
which  are  said  to  be  the  remains  of  the  synagogue,  we 
passed  on  to  Bethsaida  in  full  view  of  Magdala,  and  re- 
turned to  Tiberias  where  we  spent  the  whole  day  examin- 
ing and  looking  at  sights  of  sacred  interest. 

While  in  Cana  of  Galilee  we  drank  from  the  fountain 
from  which  it  is  said  the  water  was  procured  which  was 
turned  to  wine.  John  2  : 1-11  and  4 :  4-6. 

Mount  Tabor  was  visited.  It  is  dome-shaped,  1800  feet 
above  sea  level,  and  is  about  four  miles  from  Nazareth. 
From  here  we  went  to  the  place  where  He  took  James, 
John  and  Peter,  and  Moses  and  Elias  appeared.  It  was 
here  that  Jesus  fed  the  five  thousand. 

While  I  was  at  Bethsaida  I  thought  I  would  like  to 
remain  three  years  on  the  shores  of  Galilee.  Dear  Galilee, 
sweet  Galilee,  the  place  where  Jesus  so  loved  to  be. 

Then  we  visited  the  tomb  of  Jonah  and  the  place  where 
he  was  born.  The  Valley  of  Esdraelon  is  where  the 
hardest  battle  in  all  history  was  fought,  where  Saul  fell 
on  his  own  sword. 

Nazareth  is  a  place  in  which  I  was  very  much  inter- 
ested— where  our  Lord  made  His  home  for  thirty  years. 
I  was  in  his  house,  as  it  is  intact  yet,  and  saw  the  rock 
on  which  he  ate  his  last  supper.  Matt.  23 : 11.  I  also 

130 


visited  the  hill  where  they  tried  to  throw  our  Saviour  over, 
and  He  passed  out  of  their  midst;  also  where  Elijah 
prayed  for  rain,  and  where  he  killed  the  four  hundred 
false  prophets  at  the  Brook  Kishon.  I  Kings,  18 :  40. 

We  leave  tomorrow,  March  9th,  for  Jerusalem,  where 
you  will  hear  from  me  later. 


Joppa,  March  10,  1908. 
Editor  Times,    * 

Eureka,  California. 

Joppa,  one  of  the  oldest  ports  in  the  world,  was  where 
Kiram  King  of  Tyre  brought  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  for 
the  building  of  the  Temple,  and  it  was  to  Joppa  that  Jonah 
came  to  find  the  ship  in  which  he  was  to  make  an  attempt 
to  flee  from  the  presence  of  God.  It  is  the  city  of  Simon 
the  Tanner.  We  visited  the  house.  It  is  a  city  of  about 
35,000  people,  two-thirds  of  whom  are  Mohammedans. 
About  15,000  Russian  pilgrims  pass  through  the  city 
annually.  It  has  a  large  export  trade  in  olives,  figs, 
pomegranates,  apricots  and  especially  oranges.  Here  the 
Jews  fall  upon  their  knees  and  kiss  the  earth  in  their  joy 
at  being  in  Palestine.  So  do  the  Russians.  Here  we  see 
the  camels  lying  on  the  ground  to  receive  their  burdens, 
and  the  natives  standing  idle  in  the  market  places  as  of 
old.  We  can  see  Paul  coming  in  and  seeing  so  many  idlers, 
caused  him  to  dispute  with  them  in  the  market  places. 

The  next  place  of  interest  is  the  tomb  of  Dorcas,  cut 
out  of  the  solid  rock,  large  enough  to  contain  six  people. 

131 


Near  here  they  point  out  the  house  of  Dorcas,  and  the 
house  top  where  Peter  had  his  wonderful  vision,  with  its 
lesson  of  today — a  great  lesson  to  the  world  universal  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  the  great  Brotherhood  of  man. 

The  first  town  of  importance  after  leaving  Joppa  is 
Lydda,  mentioned  in  Chronicles,  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  and 
especially  in  the  New  Testament  as  the  place  where  Peter 
healed.  It  lies  in  the  Plain  of  Sharon.  It  is  the  largest 
tract  in  all  Palestine  for  cultivation — fifty  miles  long  and 
twelve  miles  wide.  It  abounds  in  gardens,  meadows,  grain 
fields,  groves  of  oranges  and  pomegranates,  and  in  many 
places  has  beautiful  wild  flowers.  Every  section  about 
me  is  throbbing  with  memories  of  holy  writings.  Here  is 
where  Samuel  judged  the  people  and  the  Children  of 
Israel  asked  for  a  king. 

Next  we  passed  the  hill  Glyzer,  with  the  extensive 
ruins  of  the  ancient  city  which  was  presented  to  Solomon 
by  his  father-in-law,  Pharaoh,  as  his  daughter's  dowry. 
The  next  places  of  note  are  Bethsemesh  and  Zorah,  the 
latter  being  the  birth  place  of  Sampson.  It  was  here  as 
well  as  at  Ashdod,  Gath  and  Akron  that  the  Philistines 
held  the  Ark,  which  they  returned  at  last  to  the  Israelites 
because  they  thought  it  brought  a  curse  upon  them. 

Next  we  saw  the  home  of  Sampson.  Here  we  saw 
high  up  in  the  rock,  Sampson's  Cavern.  A  little  farther 
up  the  mount,  is  the  place  where  the  great  battles  were 
fought — where  blood  flowed  down  to  the  sea.  A  few 
traces  of  fortifications  can  be  seen. 

We  now  approach  Marelyas,  the  site  of  the  juniper 
tree  where  Elijah  was  refreshed  by  an  angel. 

132 


Jerusalem,  Palestine,  March  12,  1908. 

"Hail,  Jerusalem,  Hail."  Here  we  are  at  Jerusalem, 
the  Holy  City,  the  most  sacred  place  on  earth.  You  all 
know  the  history  of  Jerusalem.  A  thousand  years  before 
Jesus,  David  took  from  the  Jebusites  their  stronghold. 
II  Samuel  5 :  6-7.  But  I  will  give  it  as  I  see  it. 

It  is  certainly  a  wonderful  city.  I  can  give  you  but 
little  of  its  descriptive  grandeur,  owing  to  limited  time. 
I  am  very  grateful  to  have  the  pleasure  of  beholding  it. 
The  city  is  enclosed  by  a  wall  which  at  one  part  is  seventy 
feet  high.  It  is  two  and  a  half  miles  in  circumference,  and 
has  thirty-four  towers  and  nine  gates.  The  wall  is  so  con- 
structed and  so  thick  that  you  can  travel  all  around  upon 
it.  The  several  gates  are :  Damascus,  Herod,  St.  Stephen, 
The  Golden  Gate,  Zion  Gate.  The  last  opens  near  David's 
tomb.  The  St.  Stephen  is  also  called  St.  Mary's.  This  is 
where,  it  is  said,  St.  Stephen  was  stoned  to  death. 

Descending  David  Street  by  many  broad,  shallow  steps, 
we  pass  the  grain  market  and  bazaars,  and  arrive  at  one 
of  the  gates  of  the  Haram.  The  Mohammedans  revere 
Jerusalem  as  one  of  the  Holy  Cities,  second  to  Mecca,  but 
for  the  Jews  it  is  the  only  one. 

The  Greek  Church  is  the  strongest  of  the  Christian 
churches,  seating  3000  pilgrims.  The  Holy  Rock  is  57  feet 
long  and  43  feet  wide,  rising  six  feet  above  the  ground, 
and  has  received  the  blood  of  innumerable  sacrifices  in 
all  ages.  Here  is  where  Abraham  offered  up  his  son  Isaac. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  a  wonder  in  itself 
and  should  be  visited  in  sunshiny  weather,  as  most  of  the 

133 


interior  is  dark  and  the  magnificence  could  not  be  seen 
so  well  in  cloudy  weather.  Every  shrine  there,  and  almost 
every  stone,  has  been  bathed  with  countless  tears,  and  has 
received  the  kisses  of  thousands  of  way-worn  pilgrims. 

I  saw  where  Jesus  spent  his  last  night  before  the  cruci- 
fixion; and  close  by,  the  house  where  the  Virgin  dwelt 
during  the  latter  years  of  her  life.  Near  by  is  where  the 
Disciples  made  ready  the  passover,  and  ate  and  drank 
with  their  Master  the  last  time.  (Acts  2.)  And  here  are 
the  tomb  of  the  Psalmist,  and  many  tombs  of  kings.  Not 
far  distant  are  the  tombs  of  the  Judges.  All  the  hillsides 
around  Jerusalem  are  filled  with  caverns,  either  natural 
or  excavated,  which  have  served  at  different  periods  of 
history  as  tombs  for  the  dead. 

At  or  near  the  Damascus  Gate  is  where  the  Saviour 
was  crucified.  The  hill  has  the  shape  of  a  skull.  Here 
is  where  the  cross  stood ;  near  by  is  a  cavern  in  the  hillside 
called  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah  where  he  is  supposed  to 
have  written  the  book  of  Lamentations.  Not  far  is  the 
entrance  to  the  quarries  which  extend  under  a  large  part 
of  the  city  and  which  are  most  interesting.  Next  we  came 
to  the  upper  pool  of  Gihon,  mentioned  in  I  Kings  1 :  33-45, 
which  is  partly  intact. 

From  here  we  visited  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and 
Bethany,  crossing  the  Brook  Kedron  and  the  upper  part 
of  the  Valley  of  Jehosaphat ;  up  a  steep  path  is  the  shortest 
way  to  Bethany,  the  way  the  Lord  often  went  on  his  visits 
to  Martha  and  Mary.  This  path  furnishes  a  good  view  of 
the  City  of  Jerusalem  and  surrounding  country. 

134 


March  13,  1908. 

Today  we  spent  at  Bethlehem  (meaning  in  Hebrew 
"House  of  Bread"),  where  Herod  the  Great  built  a  city, 
and  where  he  was  buried.  To  the  west  lie  the  hills  of  the 
Wilderness  of  Judea;  to  the  southwest,  the  Hebron.  In 
the  midst  of  the  Wilderness  of  Judea  lies  Amkarin,  the 
birthplace  of  John  the  Baptist,  where  was  heard  the  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  Wilderness. 

To  the  northwest  rises  the  Mountains  of  Gibron.  This 
is  the  birthplace  of  David.  (Matt.  2.)  Here  David  was 
anointed  King  by  the  Prophet  Samuel  at  the  Lord's  com- 
mand, and  where  Saul  was  rejected  from  reigning  over 
Israel  (I  Samuel  16),  after  which  Bethlehem  was  called  the 
City  of  David.  Here  is  the  scene  of  the  interesting  story 
of  Ruth,  Boaz  and  Naomi.  The  place  has  been  gradually 
rising  from  the  ruins  and  is  fairly  prosperous,  with  its 
15,000  people.  All  are  Christians,  and  are  distinguished 
among  the  surrounding  people  by  their  energy  and  in- 
telligence, and  by  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  women. 

Bethlehem  is  the  market-place  of  the  Dead  Sea  country. 
The  education  of  the  people  is  well  provided  for.  We 
visited  the  Field  of  the  Shepherds.  This  is  a  grassy  plain 
where  the  shepherds  were  abiding  keeping  watch  over 
their  flocks  by  night,  and  where  appeared  unto  them  the 
Angel  of  the  Lord  bringing  good  tidings.  Just  beyond, 
near  the  summit  of  Mount  Olives  and  near  the  city,  are 
being  excavated  some  very  fine  ancient  ruins.  Near  here 
at  Bethpage  is  where  the  ass  was  secured  on  which  our 
Lord  entered  Jerusalem. 

135 


I  entered  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  and  the  house  of  Martha 
and  Mary.  Down  on  the  slope  of  Mount  Olives  was 
pointed  out  by  the  guide,  the  Pillar  of  Absolom  (Jer. 
31:40),  which  he  reared  up  for  himself  during  his  life 
time.  It  is  customary  for  the  Jews  to  pelt  it  with  stones 
as  they  pass  by,  because  of  his  disobedience  to  his  father, 
David. 

Here  is  the  tomb  of  James  which  the  Jews  reverence 
on  account  of  James  prophesying  to  the  children  of  Israel 
when  the  Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth. 

We  then  passed  the  Mount  of  Scandal  or  Mount  of 
Offense,  where  stood  immense  harems  built  by  King  Solo- 
mon, and  where  his  heart  was  turned  away  to  worshipping 
other  gods.  On  the  slope  of  this  mountain  is  a  small 
village  called  Siloam,  inhabited  by  Arabs.  Five  minutes 
walk  brings  us  to  the  fountain  of  St.  Mary's  well.  Mary 
is  said  to  have  washed  her  babe's  clothes  in  the  waters. 
Since  then  it  has  become  a  favorite  bath  with  the  women 
of  the  neighborhood.  The  upper  pool  of  Siloam,  where 
Jesus  sent  the  man  to  wash  who  was  blind  from  birth 
(John  9:7)  is  near  the  fountain  of  the  Virgin. 

From  this  point  a  path  leads  to  the  low*er  pool  of 
Siloam  which  is  inside  the  ancient  wall.  At  the  place 
where  the  valley  of  Hinnom  and  Jehosaphat  meets  is 
Jacob 's  well ;  it  is  called  the  well  of  Neamiah  (Josh.  15  :  7) . 
This  well  has  excellent  water.  From  this  point  Mt.  Zion 
rises  steeply  to  the  northwest  across  the  valley  of  Hinnom 
by  the  hill  of  Evil  Counsel.  This  valley  is  where  the 
cruel  human  sacrifices  were  offered  to  Baalim  and  Moloch 

136 


(II  Chron.  28 : 13,  30 ;  1 :  6) .  It  is  also  the  field  of  blood 
that  was  bought  by  Judas  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  for 
betraying  his  Master.  Here  Judas  hung  himself  from  a 
tree  which  is  still  pointed  out  to  travelers. 

Palestine  is  overrun  with  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  and  they  have  many  different  forms  of  worship 
but  all  believe  in  Christ  except  the  Jews  and  the  Turks, 
and  they  do  in  a  way.  And  a  great  many  believe  in 
divine  healing  and  practice  it.  They  have  a  pool  they 
wash  in,  and  they  say  Jesus  Christ  heals  the  water. 

My  next  in  a  few  days  will  be  from  Cairo,  Egypt. 


Cairo,  Egypt,  March  22,  1908. 
Editor  Times, 

Eureka,  California. 

The  most  interesting  sight  I  ever  witnessed  on  the 
streets  of  any  city  is  here.  While  sitting  on  the  terrace 
or  veranda  watching  the  people  and  studying  them.  I 
will  state  as  briefly  as  possibly  my  impressions. 

Scarcely  any  city  in  the  world  presents  such  life  in  its 
streets — Egyptian  women  with  blue  gowns  and  their  faces, 
below  the  eyes,  hid  by  hideous  black  figured  veils; 
bedouins  from  the  desert,  with  their  striped  turbans;  a 
Pasha  in  state,  bent  on  making  an  official  visit;  a  large 
camel  train  laden  with  Oriental  merchandise  passing  in 
the  midst  of  trolley  cars  and  automobiles ;  a  woman  with 
baskets  of  poultry  on  a  donkey,  or  driving  a  flock  of 
turkeys  and  guiding  their  movements  with  a  palm  branch ; 

137 


a  milk  man  driving  his  cows  and  milking  them  in  public 
for  his  waiting  customers ;  a  wedding  procession  preceded 
by  a  group  of  dancing  girls;  two  half  masked  mounted 
Turks  engaging  in  a  pretended  combat;  the  gaudily  be- 
decked bride  riding  in  a  gorgeous  howdah  borne  by  a 
camel,  with  others  carrying  furniture  and  presents;  a 
funeral  procession,  with  black-shrouded  professional 
mourners  howling  their  grief.  It  is  certainly  one  of  the 
busiest  scenes  I  ever  witnessed. 

The  Nile  is  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  world.  I 
took  a  trip  up  to  Memphis  on  a  boat  and  had  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity to  see  sights.  We  passed  the  Island  of  Roda.  Here 
is  the  place  where  Moses  was  found  among  the  flags  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  the  so-called  place  where  Pharoah  's 
daughter  could  see  from  the  mansion. 

Memphis  (Isaiah  19 : 13)  seems  to  mean  the  abode  of 
good,  or  the  tomb  of  the  good  men. 

The  Pyramids  belong  to  the  Memphis  era.  They  are 
all  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  As  we  pass  the  village 
we  came  to  the  colossal  statues  of  Rameses  II,  one  being 
twenty-five  feet  long,  another  forty-two  feet,  and  are  of 
excellent  workmanship. 

The  Pyramid  here  goes  back  to  King  Zoses  of  the 
third  dynasty,  hence  one  of  the  oldest.  Here  is  where  the 
sacred  bull  of  the  god  Ptah  was  embalmed.  There  is  one 
tomb  after  another,  reaching  to  a  length  of  one  thousand 
and  forty  feet,  ten  feet  wide  and  sixteen  feet  high,  all 
hewn  from  the  solid  rock.  The  tomb  chambers  are  rich 
in  representations  of  wild  and  domestic  animals  and  a 

138 


great  many  other  things  too  numerous  to  mention.  They 
claim  100,000  men  were  occupied  twenty  years  in  building 
them.  Some  have  a  height  of  451  feet  and  a  length  on 
each  side  of  750  feet.  I  noticed  one  inscription,  "Death 
is  the  end  of  life.  Oh  why  should  life  all  laborious  be? 
Let  us  alone." 

Six  miles  from  Cairo  is  the  place  where  Joseph  and 
Mary  and  the  babe  lived  while  in  Egypt.  Here  is  a  well 
they  claim  was  a  salt  well  until  Mary  washed  the  child's 
clothes  in  it,  then  it  became  sweet.  Here  also  is  a  large 
tree  that  they  say  was  here  at  the  time.  It  looks  like  it, 
as  it  is  very  old.  The  people  come  from  far  and  near  to 
get  this  water  and  when  they  come  near  they  make  a  bow 
and  say,  "This  is  holy  ground." 


Naples,  March  31,  1908. 

Naples  has  a  population  of  595,890  and  is  the  largest 
city  in  Italy.  It  occupies  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sites 
in  the  world,  its  bay  having  been  an  object  of  praise  from 
ancient  time. 

Naples  is  a  place  described  as  a  paradise  inhabited  by 
devils.  Men  and  boys  are  idle.  They  cheat,  steal,  and  are 
content  with  a  single  meal  a  day.  Girls  are  beautiful,  but 
that  is  all  you  can  say.  They  dance  in  the  streets  for 
money.  The  city  is  given  up  to  badness,  but  in  the  middle 
classes  they  have  a  great  deal  of  good  in  them,  and  there 
is  reform  among  them.  I  talked  with  some.  They  live 
in  constant  dread  of  Mt.  Vesuvius.  It  varies  in  height, 

139 


according  to  the  effect  of  eruptions,  from  3900  to  4300 
feet.  I  will  take  up  something  more  interesting,  as  Naples 
has  not  much  interest  to  me. 

We  next  visited  Pompeii.  This  is  certainly  a  great 
ruin,  fifteen  miles  from  Naples,  and  is  covered  with  ashes 
from  eight  to  twenty  feet  deep.  In  1860  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment began  a  systematic  uncovering  of  the  buried  city. 
It  certainly  is  a  place  of  interest  to  the  man  that  seeks 
information.  About  six  hundred  bodies  have  been  found, 
and  only  about  half  of  the  city  has  been  unearthed.  There 
are  many  human  forms  found,  formed  by  the  hardened 
ashes  around  the  cavity  left  by  the  decayed  body.  I  saw 
one,  the  figure  of  a  young  girl,  evidently  overtaken  in 
sleep,  as  her  countenance  was  in  a  state  of  perfect  repose. 
It  is  most  striking.  Also  one  of  a  mother  and  daughter, 
lying  close  together;  and  the  skeletons  of  horses,  dogs 
and  cats. 


Rome,  March  30,  1908. 

It  is  impossible  here  for  me  to  hint  at  the  course  of 
events  that  have  helped  to  make  Rome  one  of  the  world 
centers  of  conquest,  religion  and  art  through  nearly  three 
thousand  years.  It  is  impossible  to  do  Rome  in  a  few  days. 
I  was  very  much  favored.  On  this,  my  last  day  spent  in 
Rome,  I  was  invited  to  see  sights  with  a  party  of  twenty- 
three  in  a  large  auto,  and  a  fine  guide.  It  was  certainly 
interesting.  It  would  pay  any  one  to  see  Rome. 

140 


The  Coliseum  is  a  large  amphitheatre  which  will  seat 
50,000.  During  the  one  hundred-day  festivities  that 
marked  the  opening  of  the  Coliseum  by  Titus,  80  A.  D.,  it 
is  said  that  five  thousand  wild  animals  were  killed.  It  is 
prophesied  that  when  it  falls  Rome  will  fall. 

Here  is  the  prison  where  St.  Paul  and  Peter  were  im- 
prisoned, and  in  it  is  a  large  spring  which  was  produced 
by  Peter  to  have  water  to  bathe  his  jailors  in.  St.  John's 
church  is  fine.  It  dates  back  to  Constantine. 

I  will  give  but  a  few  hints  as  to  the  magnificence  of 
the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  which  is  the  finest  in  the  world 
and  cannot  be  described  in  one  letter.  It  was  built  by 
Constantine  upon  the  site  of  the  Circus  of  Nero.  The  cost 
of  the  main  buildings  was  about  $60,000,000,  but  they 
could  not  be  reproduced  in  our  day  for  many  times  that 
sum.  Its  length  is  6131/2  feet  and  its  width  466%  feet 
with  a  dome  the  interior  of  which  is  440  feet.  It  is  claimed 
that  on  Easter  Sunday  between  80,000  and  90,000  find 
standing  room. 

We  passed  a  slab  where  the  Emperors  were  formerly 
crowned.  To  the  right  is  the  statue  of  St.  Peter,  in  bronze, 
of  rude  workmanship,  but  exercising  a  wonderful  power 
over  the  imagination  of  the  people,  the  right  foot  being 
worn  smooth  by  the  kisses  of  the  devotees.  Looking  up 
in  the  great  dome  we  see  letters  in  mosaic,  six  feet  high, 
saying,  "Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven." 

141 


The  next  is  a  column,  brought  from  Jerusalem,  against 
which  Jesus  leaned  in  the  Temple  while  disputing  with 
the  doctors.  We  see  the  tomb  of  Leo  XII,  once  Peter's 
chair.  Here  we  see  a  painting  of  St.  Peter  healing  the 
lame  man.  Then  the  tomb  of  Pope  Leo  XIII,  who  was 
placed  there  in  July,  1903,  until  his  monument  elsewhere 
can  be  completed. 

St.  Paul's  Church  outside  of  the  gates  is  the  hand- 
somest church  in  Rome.  It  was  consecrated  in  1854,  and 
the  costly  material  of  the  interior  creates  a  most  imposing 
effect.  Here  are  three  springs.  It  is  said  that  when  Paul 
was  beheaded,  his  head  made  three  bounds  and  when  it 
struck  there  came  forth  these  springs  very  close  together, 
about  two  feet  apart. 

We  leave  April  1st  for  Villefranche,  where  I  will  take 
my  trip  over  Europe.  The  next  letter  will  be  from  Paris. 


The  Riviera,  April  9,  1908. 

The  good  ship  came  to  anchor  in  the  Villefranche  Bay 
which  can  accommodate  the  largest  vessels  in  the  world, 
and  is  a  small  town  of  about  4000  people.  A  drive  from 
Villefranche  to  Monte  Carlo  makes  this  part  of  the  Riviera 
remarkable.  We  here  had  a  drive  of  fifteen  miles  over 
the  upper  Cornish  road,  returning  by  the  lower  Cornish 
road,  seven  miles. 

This  drive  gives  the  most  varied  and  beautiful  views 
of  the  Mediterranean,  as  the  carriages  wind  among  the 
mountains  at  a  height  of  1200  feet — the  marvelous  vegeta- 

142 


tion  and  abundant  wild  flowers,  the  ancient  castles  and 
ruins  and  modern  villas  and  picturesque  white  villages, 
together  with  the  splendid  views  of  the  sea,  altogether 
serve  to  make  a  setting  that  has  few  equals.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  the  Cornish  roads  are  described  as  the  most 
beautiful  in  Europe. 

Nice  lies  two  miles  beyond  Villefranche  and  is  a  city 
of  90,000  with  the  river  Pallion  flowing  through  the  city. 
Nice  has  an  attractive  location  with  a  surrounding  amphi- 
theatre of  hills,  which  are  charmingly  diversified  with 
villas,  vineyards  and  gardens.  Nice  spares  no  pains  in 
entertaining  visitors.  Everything  is  overrun  by  sight- 
seeing. 

Monte  Carlo  lies  five  miles  beyond  Nice,  and  exceeds 
all  other  points  on  the  Riviera  in  beautiful  scenery.  The 
Casino  is  a  showy  structure,  decorated  with  statutes  and 
paintings,  and  with  its  grounds  well  supplied  with  a 
selection  of  trees  and  shrubs,  all  the  varieties  of  the  palm 
family.  The  brilliant  throngs  of  people  which  are  wont 
to  gather  here  from  all  parts  of  the  world  add  to  the 
fascination  of  the  place. 

There  is  much  talk  of  suppressing  the  gambling  tables. 
It  is  said  that  the  governments  of  France  and  Italy  are 
to  take  steps  to  close  them  as  many  players  lose  their 
fortunes  and  then  end  their  lives. 

Everything  is  free  to  visitors,  reading  rooms  supplied 
with  European  and  American  papers,  and  a  concert  hall 
in  which  one  of  the  finest  orchestras  in  Europe,  consisting 
of  eighty  pieces,  gives  a  daily  performance. 

143 


From  Nice  we  took  train  across  Europe,  through  Italy, 
Switzerland  and  Germany,  to  Paris.  This  is  the  finest 
scenery  on  the  whole  trip,  with  its  snow-capped  mountains. 
We  were  four  days  crossing  Europe. 

Paris  is  too  much  for  me  to  write  on.  I  cannot  do  it 
justice,  and  London  the  same.  The  better  way  is  to  come 
and  see  them.  I  would  not  miss  the  trip  for  what  little 
it  costs.  It  is  a  trip  every  one  should  take. 


144 


The  Author  expresses  his  gratefulness  for  the  assist- 
ance obtained  from  "The  Mediterranean  Traveler" — a 
book  of  great  value  to  the  tourist  in  Mediterranean  coun- 
tries and  the  Holy  Land. 


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